Beyond War
by Om0cha
Summary: The Fourth Shinobi War has ceased but the world continues to search for Naruto Uzumaki. The one entrusted to keep him hidden from both sides can only wait for a day that never seems to come, for the day when he can finally remind him, breathe. SasuNaru.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. He fights Sasuke for him and wins. That's how cool he is :D

* * *

><p><strong>Beyond War<strong>

_By Om0cha_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Prologue: The meaning of a human sacrifice<strong>_

Gaara had only lived 17 years, but he knew that this sandstorm was unlike any other that his village had seen before. The tower that had faithfully housed Suna's Kazekages for many decades was now creaking ominously at its mercy. Below it, the tents that served as a temporary base for the joint shinobi army were being held down by anything and everything that was heavy and could be spared.

The young Kazekage stood at the window, his eyes on the mass of angry, dark clouds that brewed beyond the dunes and mixed furiously with the golden sand. When red lightning flashed through the sky and the Akatsuki's emblem became a reality in his sights, he turned away and faced back into his office. His teal eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. The electricity to the tower had long since been lost and the room was now shrouded and still. Staring blandly at it, he felt many things from his past.

Pride for his position. Nostalgia for his father that had held it before him. Failure for the rubble that it would be by dawn.

His hand instantly flew up and sand stirred from the gourd by his side when the door flew open. There was no more safety, even in the heart of his beloved village. Right now, there was no safe haven in the world. Even when Kakashi's silver hair preceded himself and then Tsunade and the large bulk of the Raikage into the room, Gaara did not allow his hand to falter. The other two Kages lowered themselves regally without invitation into the cushioned seats surrounding the low table in the centre of his office while Kakashi stood off to the side, near the door. Standing guard.

"You've grown more cautious this past month," the copy ninja stated. The sand did not abate. The side of Kakashi's face that Gaara could see was the side completely covered with a worn out mask and he pondered why Kakashi did not have his Sharingan activated. Circumstances were certainly dire enough for that precaution.

"It tires me out," Kakashi offered in reply to his stare. Gaara lowered his head in an unseen nod, accepting the reason. He could remember the blood that flowed from another sharingan he'd seen, not too long ago.

A tinkering clank sounded when an item suddenly hit the table. His eyes scanned across the three pronged kunai that the Raikage, A, had thrown down, and then to the lock of shimmery white hair tied with a red string which Tsunade placed down significantly more gently in front of her. A's eyes narrowed and he waved one hand gruffly at the items, his other arm thrown over the back of the chair that he was sitting in.

"We are waiting, General."

Gaara's hand, which had dropped at seeing the totems, was lifted again, this time with his palm facing upwards. Sand swirled and coalesced from nothingness until an eye had formed upon it, promulgating his impossible to replicate signature.

"I would sooner die than allow an enemy into this room," he said placidly. The sand disintegrated away and lifting his gourd, he walked around his table to join his allies.

"That," the Raikage said with a scoff as Gaara sat down across from him, "is not much of a guarantee these days." He and Tsunade leant over to reclaim the items and like a testament, the wailing wind outside sounded loudly and the entire structure screamed and swayed with the creaking of wood.

"I apologise for the loss of your brother," Gaara said simply. His voice was neutral but the words were sincere.

The Raikage turned his head slightly and Tsunade, reclined with one leg folded over the other, tensed and prepared to intervene if needed. There was a coldness that had festered in the Raikage's slitted eyes. Fury. Grief. The accusatory note was obvious and all of it made him more dangerous and less predictable. The large man growled, the sound grating like falling boulders within the room.

"I should not have allowed the Kyuubi to convince me. I should have killed him before it came to this."

Kakashi and Gaara reacted subtly to this procclamation, but Tsunade who would not allow such an obvious slight. Deep tiredness lined her forceful eyes but like all of them, she had long since fallen into an unceasing pattern of attack and defend. No fatigue would hold her down.

"_Naruto_," she said with firmness, "is just as grief-stricken as you are. He would have willingly given up his own life to save your brother's if their circumstances had been reversed."

"And so he should have!" the Raikage lashed back. "Foolish child, to believe that he and Bee could take down an entire army! And what a fool I am for believing it!"

He shook his head in regret and the seat backing beneath his arm cracked under pressure. Kakashi shifted slightly from the door, wary of the small distance between his leader and the grieving Raikage. A had not shed a single tear since Bee's capture and death but grief took many forms. The man's chest was presently heaving with quick breaths, visibly showing the effort that it took to calm himself.

"This war," he muttered. "It has blindsided me. I can no longer think rationally." He glared accusingly at the other two Kages, as though the sentimental, irrational ways of their villages had tainted his own. Gaara observed that he was looking for a fight, anything to vent out what he was feeling.

Another crack of red streaked through the sky and the room flashed briefly red.

Tsunade must have noticed it too because she informed the Raikage primly, "This is not the time for argument," blind to the gritting of his teeth and clenching of his fists. Her medical upbringing meant that she drew out patient's problems with an outspokenness that others would not dare to voice, regardless of the anger or instability that she was faced with. "If we cannot think rationally for our people, then this war is lost.".

"There are far too many lives already lost," Gaara said, and in his mind he saw the large dune on the opposite side of the village. It was now covered with small, wooden crosses for each of the dead. There had been barely anymore space left on it when he last visited and very soon, crosses would start lining the streets.

The Raikage straightened immediately and Gaara knew what was coming. A's reasoning was famously one-tracked.

"Then we must end this war soon. You know my proposal...as the Hokage stated, we must think rationally for our people," A said. He eyed Tsunade hardly, utilising her own words against her. "None of us can let our emotions for a single person blindside what is best for everyone else."

"That proposal is only a temporary solution," Gaara intervened instantly, but A would not allow himself to be dismissed again.

"Kill the Kyuubi and Madara's plan dies with it!" he snarled. "He cannot revive the Juubi without it." The three pronged kunai was suddenly released from his grip and was on the table again, this time with its tip sunk firmly into the splintered wood. A's hand lowered slowly from the sharp angle that he had made to deliver it.

"You all must know the owner of this kunai, the fourth Hokage." A's voice was both disdainful and begrudging but he eyed the weapon with the faintest admiration nonetheless. "He was the only man to ever humble me and for that I must respect him. If he, a man that all the villages admire, could sacrifice his own family for the greater good, then why must we do otherwise?"

"I said it before," Gaara repeated, "that solution will not last."

"You insolent –"

"I agree with Gaara," Tsunade interrupted.

"Of course," the other sneered as he rounded on her instead, "Naruto Uzumaki is precious to you and so it seems that any sacrifice other than him would be fine." She bristled and half rose from her seat.

"If you are implying that Bee's sacrifice means nothing –"

"Gaara!"

Tsunade and A had both already moved before Kakashi's warning shout had reached their ears. When the bursts of chakra cleared, A was perched on the table next to the window and Tsunade had vaulted herself over her chair to a spot next to Kakashi. The sand that Gaara had intended to use to restrain them from reaching blows floated innocently to the ground and onto their now empty seats.

"Have respect, boy."

Tsunade's glare showed that this time she was siding with the other Kage.

"I will do whatever I need to get my point across," Gaara said bluntly in response.

"I do not like your cheek," A announced. His words were puncuated by a loud bang as he leapt from the table onto the tiles. Gaara was unperturbed as the man stalked angrily forwards and towered over his still seated form.

"And I dislike the stubbornness of a generation that has destroyed itself," he said hollowly back.

The two glared at each other from a close range, locked in a silent cold war until Tsunade intercepted between them.

"If only our army could see us now," she said bitterly. "They are dying fighting our enemies while we dance on their graves by fighting amongst ourselves. None of us are here to lose this war. Every suggestion will be considered for how it will help us win."

A huffed disbelievingly.

"Then why is my proposal ignored? I am angry at Uzumaki, I will concede that, but my decision has nothing to do with petty revenge. If you have a better idea, then spit it out or hold your tongue!"

"The Kyuubi would be reborn in the future," Gaara retaliated. "When it no longer has a vessel and roams free, can you guarantee that we would find it before Madara?" He lifted his chin. "And even then, what if we do find it before him? We would only be able to lock it into another vessel with even less control than Naruto has."

"We cannot win this war as things are, Kazekage."

"We will try," Tsunade snapped. Naruto had influenced her more than she knew and A stared at her for a short moment before looking away, a grim smirk on his lips as he faced the approaching darkness outside the window.

"Madara's army show no signs of ending, while our dead pile up day after day," he uttered bluntly. "Who knows how long this war can continue for but sooner or later, there will be no more to die. I haven't only been directing things from my base. I've been to the battleground, too. I've seen how few men we have compared to the enemy and most likely we will be wiped out before the week is over." He turned back to Tsunade, who now watched him silently. "You are Hokage, Tsunade. Think about the oath that you took when you became it."

From the corner of his eye Gaara saw Tsunade stiffen and in his own mind, the words that he had sworn the day he became Kazekage ran like a broken recording, together with the faces of his cheering people as they watched him take his place. Kakashi tensed at the door, whether because of Tsunade or A, he wasn't sure. In that moment, both Kakashi and Gaara felt fear for Naruto's life.

"We need time," A continued. He could feel a change in the wind and see it in their eyes. "Time that only the Kyuubi's death can give us. We can withdraw and recuperate, and prepare for the next war. But if we keep continuing as things are then we will be defeated. When Naruto is captured and the Kyuubi is extracted, there will be no second chance."

He watched the battle rage in Tsunade's expression. He had told the truth when he said petty revenge over Bee's death was the last thing on his own mind. This plan, one that required a true human sacrifice, had been carefully considered by him from every angle. Even his own brother had been considered before his untimely death. He knew that he had posed an extremely valid point. If the war continued any longer then they would lose and all would be lost anyway. With the completion of Madara's plan, the world's fate would be set in stone. But if they gave up a single life and waited then perhaps, they could win the war in the future. His next words were gentle and the effect on the other three in the room was obvious.

"I have known Naruto Uzumaki for a lesser time than you. But even I can see that these lives being given up for him are destroying him slowly. He cannot win this war for us and he cannot stay protected for much longer."

"But it isn't over. We can still fight," Tsunade said. "Even now, Shikaku is working on a new strategy. If we hold out then there is always the chance –"

"But if it comes to it?" A interrupted. "If Shikaku Nara does not find a solution? What then? How long will you have us wait?"

Tsunade's mouth closed and the movement of her jaw showed that she was gritting her teeth viciously.

"Do not prolong this, Tsunade-hime. We need your answer now. Your peopleneed your answer now."

"Tsunade-sama," Kakashi murmured.

The blonde haired woman glared up at the Raikage, ignoring Kakashi. The room held its breath, silent but for the wailing wind.

Then she jerked her head to the side, revoking her vote. That one action said everything. Her hands clenched and teeth grinded together even as she tried to think of another way. A's proposal was the most feasible and easy way out, that was undeniable. But no matter what, she refused to be the one to stamp the seal on the cooling wax. Her forfeit was all that A needed and he now faced only Gaara.

"Kazekage."

He rotated where he stood and stared down the youngest of them. The one who had been burdened with changing the direction of his own generation. Gaara stared emotionlessly back at him for what seemed like minutes. The tower creaked constantly, reminding him that time was slipping away, that this structure would be gone by tomorrow.

But if they remained, they could rebuild it once more.

His heart clenched painfully, so palpable that his left hand reached up to cover it as his mouth opened. He was the General. He was expected to make the orders and have the filthy deeds that followed become attached to his name, whether that name be cursed or praised in the years to come. He didn't know which of those two his order would bring. He only knew that for this betrayal, he could never see Naruto Uzumaki eye to eye again.

"Kakashi," he called. The edges of A's lips twisted up very slightly in satisfaction. The silver haired man turned from the doorway and looked at him with one dull eye. The Raikage had forsaken the necessity to convince the copy-ninja.

"Send the order to the platoons. Naruto must not fall into Madara's hands, alive."

Kakashi was still for a second, in which no one else knew what he might do next. Somewhere beneath the resignation, Gaara and Tsunade fantasised that he would refuse and that they would be able to give Naruto more time, even if it was only a few more hours. But then Kakashi was gone, with only a few leaves left to swirl onto the sprinkles of sand.

They knew that he would do it. Kakashi's will had begun to crack, with a single fissure that had started with the death of his own teammates and would end with the destruction of Team 7.

Because of that, they knew that the message would be sent.

* * *

><p>After Shikaku expressed his desire to work more closely with the separate platoons, he and his men had been moved to a large, white tent, nestled protectively by the smaller surrounding tents. Because of his importance in coordinating the army's movements, he was given the utmost protection.<p>

To protect against the identity-shifting Zetsu's, his base was guarded by a dozen soldiers that rotated shifts only amongst themselves and who always stayed within or just outside the tent. Anyone who approached without first subjecting themselves to a scan was to be killed immediately. All his food and water was tested with jutsu for poison before consumption, and Shikaku knew that his men would have willingly tested it themselves if the need ever came. On top of this, all of his commands were to be communicated through scrolls or by his own summon, a great stag with speed like flight.

When his summon, Sika, returned suddenly through the split in the tent, Shikaku looked up from the map that he had been poring over. Once covered with almost identical numbers of red and black pins, it was now predominately black. Sika stepped towards him, unobstructed by any of Shikaku's deputies. A man would always recognise his own summons.

"News?"

Sika 's voice was like leaves rustling, deep and reverberating breathily. "The Raikage's proposal has been accepted by the other Kages."

Shikaku lowered his head. "So it has come to this at last," he muttered. He knew that it was a last resort. In essence, they would still be losing the war and be subjected to Madara's whims. After all, the man was insanely powerful, Jinchuuriki or none. However, as long as Kyuubi was not on Madara's side, then it was not an indestructible army.

His three deputies began murmuring among themselves. None of them were from Konoha and it was evident that they couldn't understand why they'd waited for so long before making the decision. Shikaku tapped his finger on the table once and they instantly stopped and approached him, waiting for orders.

"Send the message out to all the platoons," he commanded. They nodded.

"Understood." One of them hesitated.

"Sir, Naruto Uzumaki is present at most of the battlefields with his shadow clones. What if he finds out?"

"He will not do anything," Shikaku replied.

With that assurance they were gone and Shikaku was left alone with Sika.

Letting out a heavy breath, he strode over to the other table in the room, this one covered with scrolls of forbidden jutsu which all five villages had compiled in an effort to create a useful strategy. He shoved some of the now useless scrolls off the chair next to it and sank down into it, his hand coming up to rub tiredly at his forehead. "Sika. I have never felt this tired in my life."

He heard Sika's hooves clop slowly over to him.

"You need rest, Shikaku."

He saw the hooves enter his line of vision, mere feet away from him.

"Rest."

The hairs on his neck bristled suddenly and his eyes snapped open. His brilliant mind, already racing through every single scenario that might occur next, had already selected the most likely one.

"Sika." He despaired as he looked up slowly from behind his lowering fingers. Mere centimetres away from him in the once beautiful, large brown eyes of his summon, black tomoes spun in a grave of red. "When did you…?"

"Rest."

With that final command which the master of the enemies had implanted in his summon's mind, Shikaku was no more.

* * *

><p>Konoha's shinobi were spread evenly between the different battlefields. It was they that first approached Naruto, and told him to run.<p>

Flee from the war, away from Madara, away from certain death.

Naruto refused.

The news of Shikamaru's father's death had hit the genius with a lethal dosage of reality. Shikamaru felt that he must uphold the last command his father had given and so two battles were now fought within him. He pleaded with Naruto behind a line of soldiers as they waited in the darkness for a potential ambush.

"I don't want to kill you," Shikamaru said, and he didn't. "Hide, Naruto. Don't let anyone find you. Hide for however long you can. Forever, even."

The clone that Shikamaru was talking to shook his head and smiled sadly at him. "It won't come to that, Shikamaru," the blonde said gently. "I would never let myself be captured."

His voice wasn't filled with onoxiously blind and stubborn determination. The death of the Hachibi had done a good lesson of knocking that from the last remaining Jinchuuriki. Instead, it seemed resigned. It was just as convincing as Naruto's enthusiastic, confident voice but in a completely different way. It was as though Naruto had already formulated a plan which had nothing to do with what everyone else was doing around him and which he would execute himself, whether they liked it or not.

Shikamaru still feared. He had never known what it was like to lose everything close to him and to be left with nothing. He had gotten his first taste of it mere hours ago when one of his father's guards had arrived, pale and shell shocked. It was like a terrible, cold vice across his entire body. It froze his mind and movements, rendered him with a despair that clawed and scratched until he was now left begging for it to end.

Begging for Naruto to end it all.

Naruto's eyes were blue at the moment and not the brilliant red that they had been for the majority of the battle. Shikamaru felt much more guilty when he shoved the kunai into the clone's chest. This was his friend, not the prize in a madman's war.

"Run," he whispered to him, and Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

><p>Memories were coming to him in waves, accompanied by pangs of betrayal as each clone was destroyed, one after the other. The last sight of almost every clone were the guilty eyes of people he knew and had fought beside. Naruto clutched his chest and his eyes stared blankly at the view of the untouched forest in front of him. There was nowhere left for him in the world.<p>

When a vision of teary emerald eyes and matted pink hair filled his mind between all of the other memories, Naruto knew that it was so. It was time, and Sakura's choked words floated like a mantra as he stood up on the tree limb that he had settled upon to gather up sage chakra.

_I love you, Naruto. We all love you so much._

He knew exactly where Madara was and he could sense the chakra of 7 other powerful beings surrounding him as the Uchiha made his way quickly to the forefront of the joint shinobi army. Killer Bee's chakra flared out to him, calling him, reminding him of his failure. He tensed the muscles in his legs and with strength that shattered the tree beneath him, ran from the clearing and in their direction. He slowed his pace slightly when he realised that he was using up too much chakra maintaining his speed. He would need as much chakra as he could spare and so he allowed himself to slow down, using only his physical strength to take him onwards.

He chanced a split moments visit into his mind to check on the reserve of Kyuubi's chakra that remained. The glowing ball above the gates had diminished to a fraction of its original size but it remained a searingly bright white. Minimal but enough.

"_Fool!" _the fox hissed from behind. The darkness of his mind slowly receded to show the weakened, snarling creature, shackled and chained. Strings of saliva flew from its jaws as it goaded him. _"I know what you plan! You have underestimated Madara's power!"_

In vengeance, Naruto flicked his wrist and sent another gate crashing down upon the Kyuubi's neck, sending the fox growling and writhing involuntarily to the ground. Foam and curses flew from its snapping jaws as it scrabbled futilely to reach its foolish vessel, standing but mere metres away from it.

"And you underestimate me," Naruto said impassively to it, "yet you never learn either." His mindscape began to fade. "Maybe next time, Kyuubi."

It took half an hour of travel for him to come within sights of Madara. The chakra sensors of the joint shinobi army must have noticed their rapid approach towards each other and as a result, many shinobi were now gathered there. Thousands of them, all covered with the wounds and grime of war, were visibly shuddering in the grip of snowy gales. Rugged mountains surrounded the flat plain that they occupied and Naruto pinpointed them at somewhere near the border of the Land of the Samurai, a country which was locked in an eternal winter. He stopped short of the army and landed on the ground behind them so that a great sheet of shinobi created a field between himself and his rapidly approaching foe.

Collateral damage was undesirable and Naruto sought out the commanders of the platoons, intending to make them divert their men. Kitsuchi, Mifune and Darui were rapidly weaving their way through the sea of shinobi towards him but before they could reach him, Gaara and Kakashi had already appeared.

Naruto noticed that neither of them seemed to want to look him in the eye. Their gazes were instead locked somewhere between his shoulder and chin. He tugged a smile onto his half-frozen face.

"Hey."

Gaara finally met his gaze and Naruto couldn't help it. He was betrayed by these men. His smile slowly slid from his face and all that was left for the other two to see was a hard resolution in his cobalt eyes.

"You've heard," Gaara stated.

Naruto nodded and Kakashi just looked grieved. Naruto wondered what would be left of the man after this was all over. Kakashi's morals had changed several times throughout his life, the most significant time being when Obito had convinced him to never to abandon his comrades, no matter the command.

_Those who don't obey orders are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash_.

Naruto completely agreed. He had no intention of abandoning any of these people but they didn't have to know that.

"You need time," Naruto said, echoing the Raikage's words in the tower. Kakashi and Gaara visibly flinched at the usage of 'you' rather than 'we'. "I can give you that time. Keep everyone else away."

"What do you plan to do?" Sand had begun to swirl around Gaara's feet and from the open gourd on his back.

"Can you trust me?"

The sand told Naruto that no, they couldn't. The two stared at him. Could they trust him to what? To keep the Kyuubi safe from Madara? To win this war? To protect everyone?

"Do you trust me?" he repeated. He was smiling again, but it was a sad one that suggested he didn't really expect to hear an answer he wanted.

"Naruto…"

The other commanders were within hearing distance of anything they said now.

"Trust me one more time," Naruto whispered and he disappeared, the snow caressing the air where he had stood.

Panicked, the commanders instantly cast their gazes everywhere to look for the orange clad blonde. Something of a small blizzard was starting up and Gaara took to the sky on his sand for a better view, scanning the masses of people and the surrounding landscape. What he finally saw in the distant forest managed to freeze his blood more than the frigid air ever could.

Naruto looked left to right, from the man that he had once met as Utakata to Killer Bee, still and silent like he had refused to be in life. Madara stood centre of them and was swathed in a different mask and set of robes to what Naruto had seen in their last encounter. The man approached him, stepping smoothly like a spectre, one that desired nothing more than to turn him into something less than human like itself and the beings beside it. The roar of the army sounded behind them and Naruto estimated that they would reach them within 5 minutes, tops.

"Have you surrendered?" the eldest Uchiha asked. He gestured tauntingly to Killer Bee. "It's about time that you joined the man you killed, don't you think?"

Naruto glared at him. His golden eyes slitted, framed by the spreading red of his sage mode.

"I'll make it up to him by destroying you."

Killer Bee's reanimated corpse crowed once in approval and Naruto widened the space between his feet, preparing to move.

_I have enough chakra for two rasenshuriken._

He leapt towards the masked man.

He threw a single kunai at Madara which was dodged and instead flew straight over his right shoulder, embedding solidly into a tree trunk with a thunk. Naruto gritted his teeth when the reanimated corpses of the Jinchuuriki suddenly leapt towards him and Madara retreated behind him. He landed on a tree limb and growled lowly up at the falling forms. He had thought that Madara's pride would not allow him to let Kabuto's techniques fight his battles for him.

No matter. Killing Madara had been the best case scenario, but permanently getting rid of these cursed beings might be just as good. He pulled both of his hands up to his lips, crisscrossing them and letting his canines sink into the soft pad of his thumbs. He repeated the action with his forefingers, skilfully sidestepping any of the Jinchuuriki trying to land a blow on him. Looking down, he was satisfied to see the blood that flowed thickly down to his wrists. He only just managed to dodge one of Utakata's exploding bubbles when he looked up again from the split fraction of a second that he had allowed himself to examine his 'ink.'

"You," he muttered nostalgically when the air around him started literally blowing up, "you're just as annoying as the first time I met you." The other snorted in amusement and Naruto felt a rush of fondness before he quashed it underfoot.

The snow mixed with the explosions from the bubbles, and rising steam from what he suspected to be the chakra of a demon shroud was making it difficult to see. He forced Kyuubi's chakra to his eyes and analysed what was going on with clearer vision.

There was a giant two tailed cat at approximately 45 degrees, steadily powering up a ball of dense chakra. Utakata was making his way to some branches above him and Killer Bee had stopped with his swords drawn to Naruto's left. The other four Jinchuuriki were standing still at various degrees behind him, and Naruto gulped at the realisation that he was in the middle of them all.

_Shit!_

Seven tailed beast bombs coming towards him was the last thing he wanted and he set to work on quickly reducing that number. He went for Utakata, who was the closest, first. With unbelievable speed resulting from a combination of his sage mode and Kyuubi's chakra, he was beneath the still moving body and his fingers were already darting a pattern of blood over the other's chest. Before they landed he had already pulled his forefinger and middle finger in a sign and muttered indistinguishable words under his breath, words that flowed naturally to him ever since his encounter with his mother. The bloody ink glowed and spread. Utakata gasped as it climbed to his neck and face and then Naruto began making his way to Killer Bee. Behind him, Utakata dropped the long fall to land sickeningly on the ground below, the bloody seal glowing once before turning black. He stayed motionless.

"Uncle Bee," Naruto murmured as they approached each other, "I'm sorry."

"I forgive you, Naruto," the other said jovially, even as his blades began swinging like a lethal machine. "Now seal me quickly."

"It would be easier if you stop waving those things around all the time," Naruto joked, but managed to find an opening within seconds. His left hand pressed against the others left shoulder as he leapt into a roll over the blades. It took a bit more chakra since he wasn't able to write a seal like before but when he removed his palm, red inked characters similar to those on Utakata had begun spiralling all around Killer Bee. A grin was on the dark skinned man's face before he collapsed like a stringless puppet.

"Goodbye, Uncle Bee."

Naruto bristled and turned awkwardly in the air to avoid the chakra bomb that the two tails finally released, letting out a deep sigh of relief when the black and blue mass went shooting into the sky and exploded above them. The reverberations were enough to make his eardrums beat painfully but he twisted around in the air, eyes searching through the smoke and snow for his next target.

Both of his seals had been completed in under a minute and a flare of ancient chakra was all the warning that he got before Madara's displeasure made itself known. Before he could land on solid ground, fingers erupted from nowhere and tightened viciously around his neck in his free fall. He choked under the grip and gasped for air when Madara's other hand sent a chakra enforced punch to his stomach. His eyes widened, momentarily flashing blue as his focus weakened, then his body was slammed against a tree, thoroughly rattling his skull. The faint red marks of his sage mode disappeared from around his eyes and blearily, he glared up at the masked man trapping him there, a trail of blood leaking from the edge of his lips.

"The Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques are indeed formidable."

Naruto froze when his eyes connected with Madara's sharingan. He had once thought Sasuke's sharingan to be an intricate and beautiful pattern. He could not say the same for this man.

"I don't think you've had the chance to experience the Uchiha clan's own forbidden jutsu," Madara breathed out lowly. "How rude of dear Sasuke. Perhaps I should enlighten you."

_Glaring eyes, a hand through his chest, Gaara's body, his parents' deaths, Killer Bee between him and Madara, thousands of bodies, betrayal, betrayal..._

Naruto threw his head back and screamed. His hands tightened around the wrist of the hand Madara gripped him with. Madara scoffed. "A clone, huh?"

"Rasenshuriken!"

Without looking, Madara lifted up his other hand and the Jutsu behind him was absorbed in an eerily familiar move. The clone in his hands was dispatched with a cracking sound from its neck.

Naruto gaped then winced when his clone dispersed, the temporary Tsukiyomi making him tremble slightly where he stood and grasp the tree tunk. "Tha— that's Nagato's technique!" he gasped out.

"They were all my techniques before they were his."

Naruto felt sweat run down his forehead. The true uselessness of this war was starting to sink upon him. As if he wasn't powerful enough before, Madara now had all of Nagato's abilities. Multiple kunai and ninjutsu attacks suddenly started flying through the air around them and he realised that the army was making good on the Kages' orders to not allow him to fall into Madara's hands. He bit down on his bottom lip as he realised what that meant. Surprisingly, he felt no anger. Only resignation and a faint melancholy for what he had to do. It was now or never. If he used anymore chakra on useless attacks then he would lose his chance.

"I don't know how forbidden your clan's techniques are," he said hollowly, bringing a hand up to his face. He pulled his forehead protector from his head, feeling only a small pang when he let it drop to the branch next to him. "But the Uzumaki clan has techniques that were so forbidden that a country was destroyed to hide their existence." With the blood still on his fingers, he drew a line of characters upon his own forehead before letting his bangs fall back into his eyes. Having used up all of Kyuubi's chakra reserves, his pupils reverted back to sapphire.

It was time.

Madara took an unsure step back, unknowing of what Naruto might possibly be planning but unwilling to call it a bluff. Naruto's hands came together in a blur of seals that Madara could follow but couldn't comprehend, foreign words dropping from his lips. He focused all of his chakra to his chest and the seal upon his stomach. Black spiralling characters began appearing on the ground around his feet and then spread from there to form a flowering bed of black lettering. The characters glowed, the snow beneath them melted and the heat that rose from them flowed upwards, making his cloak and hair billow.

Gaara watched from afar. The commanders had given the orders to start attacking both Naruto and Madara alike and his chest was constricting tightly. He frowned as he watched Naruto perform a jutsu completely unidentifiable to him. He could feel a large amount of chakra however, and he was sure that if he could see the patterns then the air around them would be brimming with it. Searching the army below, he sought out a Hyuuga and jumped down when he located Neji with his cousin.

"Gaara," Neji said and Hinata looked up, startled at the Kazekage's appeared in their midst, "what –"

"What is happening to Naruto's chakra?" Gaara asked. "Tell me what you can see."

There was a split moment of uncertain hesitation and then the two nodded, turning together to search out the area in the distance where Naruto was. Gaara regrettably watched the teary eyed Hyuuga heiress focus her Byakugan on Naruto. She gasped after a few seconds but it was Neji that spoke first.

"It is disappearing," he said in confusion. He looked at Gaara, who glimpsed the straining in his throat. "Chakra only disappears when someone dies. Could he be…?"

"I don't think it is a suicide," he denied, but swallowed thickly nonetheless. Perhaps it was some special jutsu. Yes. Let it be something that could finish this.

"I –it isn't exactly di—disappearing," Hinata said suddenly. Her eyes were still darting over Naruto's chakra system fearfully, trying to pick up on more detail. "It seems that it is be—being absorbed and turned into something else. Li- like a seal."

"A seal?"

Neji breathed in sharply and Gaara followed his train of thought to reach the same conclusion.

"Naruto is sealing himself! He plans to stop the Kyuubi from being reborn!"

Hinata began shaking and Neji placed a hand upon her shoulder. "He- he always protects us," she whimpered, watching the chakra disappear at an alarming rate. "Even when everyone else thinks it's hopeless. But what about him?"

"It's too late." Neji shook his head. "His chakra is almost gone."

Gaara felt his body slacken with that ultimatum. Around him, he could hear the rustling movements of eavesdroppers that were whispering, spreading what was happening to the rest of the army. There was a cry of shock from somewhere. From others he heard excited murmurs, thinking that everything would be over at last.

"We must retrieve him," Neji said when he saw the final flickers of Naruto's chakra become smothered. The blonde appeared to be slowly losing control of his body, which was growing slack and sinking inch by inch down towards the ground. His hands had already dropped from the previous position they had been holding in a complicated seal. Neji turned to Gaara, his lilac eyes narrowed fiercely. "I will not let Madara and Kabuto have his body to experiment with."

Gaara nodded grimly and he leapt away from them to pass that order to the other commanders. Beneath his numb shock he felt astonishment for the fact that even now, Naruto did everything that he could for those around him. The same people that had hated him as a child, berated him, and then ultimately _betrayed __him_. He agonised over and desperately hoped that Naruto wouldn't be thinking along those lines right now. He quailed at the thought that Naruto believed he was giving up everything for people that had never cared, because that could not be further away from the truth.

And yet with some disgust at himself, he found that he was already calculating what these events would mean for the war.

Kyuubi would not die and so would not be reborn. They didn't know, however, if Madara would figure out Naruto's seal and extract the Kyuubi, given the chance. Gaara's eyes steeled over as his fellow commanders came into sight. It would be in their best interests to not give him that chance.

Naruto could see that Madara had figured out what was happening. He smirked, even as he felt his mind and bodily functions slowly shut down. Sinking to his knees with his arms hanging uselessly by his side, he allowed himself to memorise everything around him. He felt the thrum of Kakashi and Gaara's chakra most prominently and wondered whether he would see them again. Looking down, he was satisfied to find seals glowing from around his wrists and ankles and a more intricate one over his heart. He knew a similar pattern of characters would be around his neck and that his eyes would be glowing a brighter, unnatural blue. His breath came in light puffs. His smirk widened and he positively leered at the other man that trembled in fury across the clearing.

"Heh. My win, old man."

With that final goad, he closed his eyes. His body began to careen forwards, prepared to slip from the wide tree limb and fall to the ground below. At least he wouldn't feel it. His mind was hazily churning its last few thoughts as snowflakes burned his cheeks in his fall.

One last step. One last thing, before he could willingly let himself be locked away without a care. He frowned as he fell. At this rate, he _would_ feel it when he hit the ground. Where the hell…?

_I'm waiting, bastard_.

Ah. There.

His lips curved as a familiar, potent chakra reached out to his own, and then his fall was broken by a pair of arms. He could imagine the look of surprise on Madara, hell, the look of surprise on every single person in the world.

It was about time that they realised.

"_You idiot,"_ a baritone voice growled in his mind and he had the urge to lash out but acquiesced. He was tired. He'd fought a whole war already. Let the bastard do his part, the lazy ass.

"Sasuke," Madara said. His voice was surprised but he recollected himself quickly. His slitted eyes darted to the blonde that Sasuke was supporting in a half standing position with one arm around him. Naruto was leaning heavily on Sasuke's shoulder with closed eyes and his breathing barely there.

"Let's return to the base," Madara attempted, stepping foward cautiously. Sasuke's eyes, once his brother's, levelled a bemused sharingan upon the eldest Uchiha.

The undergrowth rustled with the movement of thousands around them. The joint shinobi army was closing in to retrieve Naruto and Sasuke smirked calmly. His right hand came up in a one handed seal. Madara lunged but with a wisp of hissing smoke, the two were gone.

Half a mile away, Gaara's grip on the edge of his platform of sand became crushing. He could not believe his eyes. Naruto had asked him to trust him and he had had difficulty doing so, even when it was the boy that had practically nurtured him into the man he was today. What he just saw went beyond that request completely. The utmost trust, the complete and utter mutual devotion between two people.

When the hell had the world missed that?

The army below was in disarray. Orders were flying from the commanders for them to retreat and Gaara could see Madara doing the same under the cover of his remaining Jinchuuriki. The animated corpses were sending beast bombs haphazardly into the chaotic masses. Quickly, he set up a large barrier of sand between the two sides. Before it was drowned in a sea of golden sand, his eyes glimpsed Naruto's Konoha forehead protector one more time.

Then it was gone and like Naruto Uzumaki, it would not be seen for many years to come.

_End of Prologue_.


	2. Chapter 1

Thank you to everyone who reviewed last time! No OCs will play a prominent part in this story, so for those who might start worrying while reading this chapter, I assure you that you have absolutely nothing to fear :)

* * *

><p><strong>Beyond War<strong>

_By Om0cha_

_**Chapter One: The last safe haven in the world**_

_*****7 years after the war*****_

Gnarled, lesion scattered hands gripped the handles of the wooden cart. The elderly woman pushing it paid no heed to the splinters in her palms –for the cart was of poor workmanship— but continued a constant pattern of slowly shuffling forward down the street, peering into a smoky alley from beneath her shawl, then shuffling forward again and repeating this all the way down to the next corner. It was an achingly slow process because her shrivelled feet, enclosed only in tattered ribbons of cloth, were disagreeing with her and sometimes dragging loudly across the dirt and pebbles. She kept a tight grip on her precious cart though, for resources nowadays were scarce and the only other firewood would take a day's trip to reach. It had been that way since the Great Naruto Bridge was destroyed and she didn't want to tempt anyone.

It was around 5 in the afternoon and in this port town on the edge of the water country, it was the scavenging hour. Over the years it had become the time when shinobi would head together to the outskirts of the village and reinforce the ninjutsu barrier around them. Despite these daily efforts however, some of the stronger white Zetsu would still make it into the village. Having been allowed to roam the world like a plague since the end of the war, some of the creatures had mutated and grown immune to many jutsu. It wasn't uncommon to run into one during a daily stroll down the street, but it was only certain shinobi that possessed the ability to identify and kill them.

It was these dead Zetsu that the old woman was currently seeking out. Her son and daughter-in-law had been killed in the Fourth War and she had been left to take care of her now 8 year old grandson by herself. Akio would sometimes try to help out but she scolded him whenever he came home with stolen food, even though she knew that he meant well. Just because the world had gone to the dogs didn't mean that she would allow Akio to become one too. And so where other able bodied men and women hunted wild animals in the forest and seas, she hunted for white Zetsu. The dead bodies of slaughtered Zetsu turned into a soft, organic, white substance that was oddly sustaining. It wasn't the best taste in the world but she had little choice. She was proud of Akio for not complaining.

She paused at the alley between a shuttered up BBQ restaurant and a dilapidated flower store when something at the very back of the dark alleyway caught her sights. With much effort she turned her cart and pushed it into the narrow area to investigate, her vision not good enough to let her confirm what the something was from faraway. As she got closer to it she identified that it was humanoid in form, meaning that it was very possibly a Zetsu. Normally, the shinobi would not throw them this far back into the alley. More distance for a poor old woman to walk.

She stopped her cart next to it, the back wheels splashing some muddy water over her feet and the limp form when she set it down. She was just reaching her hand out to turn the figure over when it shifted. Her hand froze above a shoulder clad in dark cloth, and then the body was rolling over towards her. With a shriek she jumped back and fell painfully to the ground. She tried to backpedal away from it. At the worst, the shinobi had not checked whether a Zetsu was dead before disposing of it, in which case it would easily be able to kill her. At the best, maybe it was just a man that had been punished for stealing. In _that_ case she could bade her cart goodbye with hopefully only a few minor injuries.

Panting in terror, she watched a pale face turn to the sky. Not pale enough to be a Zetsu however, and because a weakened Zetesu could not hold a stolen form, that meant that this was most definitely a man. Her fear eased slightly but she continued eyeing the person with caution. She took in features that were covered with some mud but still handsome, such a rarity to see in a battle scarred world. Ebony hair, flawless skin, a straight nose and long, dark eyelashes. He didn't appear to be a gruff thief and she wondered what such a person was doing in a dark alley. Then he turned his head and upper body on the ground to face her, and red eyes containing swirling, black pinwheels fixed her where she sat.

Her hand flew to her mouth to smother another, louder shriek.

"U—Uchiha!" she stuttered through her fingers. The red eyes narrowed and the old woman quickly twisted around to look at the bright entrance to the alley. No one was there and she turned back to the man, who was easing himself up onto his elbows on the ground. It was while he was trying to get into a sitting position that the split in his cloak shifted and she saw a horrendous wound upon his torso. She recoiled. It was like someone had plastered an exploding note right across his chest and then cauterized the gaping hole afterwards.

"Whi –which one are you?"

She trembled. Those terrible eyes fixed upon her again, calculating. In the silence the old woman felt like there was nothing else, only her body spinning within those depths.

"I am not Madara."

Her eyes became impossibly wide. Then he was Sasuke Uchiha!

"Oh Lord…" she whispered into her hand. To her alarm, Sasuke at that moment collapsed back into a boneless heap upon the ground. She now pulled both hands to her face and chewed nervously on her nails, looking up and down the limp body frantically.

What should she do? Oh, good lord, what was she to do?

With a quick breath she made up her mind and hastily got to her feet. She leaned over the Uchiha and grabbed his arm with both trembling hands. After ten minutes, many wheezing breaths, almost falling over several times and more strain than she had put herself through for years, she managed to pull him onto the cart. She constantly glanced to the entrance of the alley to make sure that no one came by. They were fortunate that it was the scavenging hour but she would have to get him out of here quickly.

With a few more panting shoves she managed to roll Sasuke onto his front so that his face was hidden. She then tugged the long, black cloak that he had been wearing away from him, spreading it out and throwing it over his entire form. It crossed her mind that someone might try to steal a cloak of such good quality but she would just have to risk it, and she settled for tucking the edges beneath Sasuke's body to make it more difficult. Disbelieving at her own nerve, she placed a palm over her rapidly beating heart in an attempt to calm it.

After looking upwards to the sun though and realising that the scavenging hour was almost over, she hurriedly picked up the cart and pushed it out the alley again. It was significantly heavier than before, but she had never gotten home faster.

* * *

><p>His eyes opened to darkness.<p>

Sasuke turned his head from the shadowed rafters above him to the left, where the barest slivers of orange light stretched weakly through the cracks in the closed blinds. It was sunset but the people who lived here had not turned on any lights. He could sense two of them in the next room. One was familiar, the old woman from before. The other had a respectable amount of undeveloped chakra. After looking up again he deduced that this old woman and what was most probably her grandchild had been on the bad end of the war. The light bulb above him was shattered. The house itself appeared to be in the final stages of decomposition and was barely holding together.

Ignoring the sharp pains in his chest, he pulled himself to sit on the edge of the cart he was on. His boots crunched on broken ceramic and when he looked down he saw that his torso had been clumsily bandaged. Without a sound he pulled all of the blood stained bandages off, dropping them to the table top where his cloak and bloodstained shirt had been left. He stood up and walked to the sink to wash the residue ointment away. The sound of the running water must have alerted the two occupants because they appeared in the kitchen just as he was turning the faucet off.

"Uchiha-san…"

"Sasuke." He looked at her and the boy sharply. "Sasuke only."

The boy chirped happily in response, "My name is Akio!" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and the old woman hastily stepped in front of the boy.

"Forgive him," she said. "He was never taught properly."

Sasuke stared at her again, this time with black eyes for which she was thankful.

"What is your name?"

"I forgot it during the war," she said, rubbing gingerly at a spot towards the back of her head, "but the people here call me Charon."

"I call her granny," Akio spoke up again, peeking from around her waist. His large green eyes regarded Sasuke curiously, then widened in downright awe when the other's hand began glowing bright blue. His grandmother suddenly shoved him hard behind her with a hitched breath.

"I won't hurt you," Sasuke stated. Instead of attacking them he ran his hand over his own chest, feeling his chakra slowly knit his muscle and skin back together. When he was done his torso was unmarked, the broad chest toned and powerful like nothing had ever been able to penetrate it in the first place.

"Woooooow!" Akio ducked beneath Charon's reaching hands and ran up to Sasuke as the man pulled his garments back on. "How did you do that!" he asked, blatant admiration painting his young features.

To Charon's shock, Sasuke chuckled slightly. Raising his forefinger, he poked the brown haired boy on the forehead. "Would you like to learn?" he asked simply.

Akio was too excited to be annoyed and replied enthusiastically, "Yes please!"

Sasuke looked up at Charon, who was standing there wringing her hands rather helplessly.

"Would you like him to become a shinobi?"

Charon was very taken aback at the question. This was so surreal. _The_ Sasuke Uchiha was in her house, having a pleasant discussion with her about Akio's future prospects.

"Well…he – his parents were, so I suppose –"

"Then you have nothing to worry about."

Before Charon could ask Sasuke what he meant by that, the Uchiha had bent down next to Akio and whispered something in his ear. Charon worriedly watched Akio nod excitedly then run out of the kitchen. The sounds of rummaging began coming from his room.

"Charon," Sasuke said, and she looked up startled into his eyes, "you have nothing to worry about."

She thought about it for a moment. Sasuke blinked.

"Yes. Yes, I suppose I don't."

She hesitated.

"Can I ask…where is Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Gone," was the simple reply. It cleared up nothing. Dead? Alive? Here? Elsewhere? "You don't need to concern yourself about him," Sasuke clarified.

"But everyone is looking for him," Charon began anxiously. "The Hokage of Konoha and the Kazekage of Suna have –"

"You, need not concern yourself," Sasuke repeated.

She thought about it.

"Yes. I suppose."

She didn't make any action to stop Sasuke from leaving the kitchen but followed silently behind. Oddly, there was no surprise when they found Akio in the dusty hallway, travelling jacket on and putting on a pair of worn sandals, two light rucksacks slung upon his shoulder. When he had tied the broken clasps together as well as he could, Akio jumped to his feet and ran the short few metres up to them. Sasuke scanned this hyperactivity with an unreadable eye. The boy tugged on Charon's shawl.

"Granny, Sasuke said he's going to take me to become a shinobi!"

Charon smiled and ruffled his hair, making him screw up his face and pout. "That is very kind of him. Be careful and behave!" Akio nodded furiously and pushed his entire weight forwards to hug her tightly around her middle.

"Bye bye granny!"

She hugged him back before releasing him. She watched Sasuke take Akio's hand in his own and the two stepped down into the entrance. Turning around, Sasuke's eyes flickered to her, red in the darkness. He gave a curt nod.

Charon blinked.

It was so dark that she could barely see the door in front of her.

My, my, night had already fallen, and she had yet to prepare a candle. Tutting to herself, she turned around and dragged her feet down the wooden boards of the empty hallway to the living room. She fetched a single, white candle from a small cabinet and an old, cracked glass cup from the table. After lighting the candle, she dripped a few drops of wax onto the bottom of the glass before holding the base of the candle in it and letting it harden. With candle in hand, she made her way back to the kitchen to prepare her dinner.

She placed the glass onto the empty kitchen table and hobbled over to the corner of the kitchen to squint for a certain ceramic jar among the many on the counter. When she found the black one she was after she spent a good several minutes just trying to pry the lid off, which had been made a bit too big for the hole and so had to grate harshly before being released. She would have to put the Zetsu into another, better jar. This was far too tiresome a routine to go through every night. How she had managed to put up with it for this long, she would never know.

Just as she had lit the stove with a match and was about to toast the white Zetsu, the stove went off. Charon paused with her hand holding the slab of Zetsu over it, blinking at the flameless bench with some annoyance. Then the orange light on the walls flickered and the candle behind her went out altogether as well. Frowning uneasily she looked over her shoulder, putting the Zetsu down onto the counter. The impulse to run from the house suddenly gripped her.

Something was wrong.

The night was silent, more silent than usual.

Almost no light was to be seen from the gaps in the blinds.

Where were the shinobi that lit the street lamps?

Charon jumped and her heart almost leapt right out of her chest when a chorus of terrible, bloodcurdling screams abruptly started coming from outside. Then they increased, growing louder and louder until it seemed that the entire village was screaming out in tortured pain and terror around her. Light, an odd orange-red flecked with yellow, began glowing behind the blinds. Eyes wide, she backed away from the window, her trembling hands reaching out behind her for a support.

She let out her own short scream to join the others when she touched fabric and a body that shouldn't be there.

She turned around and had only time to register a strange, concentric mask in the orange glow before her throat was grabbed. Her hands came up desperately and she choked deeply, drool and tongue lolling out helplessly and cloth bound feet kicking out when she was lifted from the floor by the tall man. From the edge of her spotting vision she could see what appeared to be a black Zetsu leaning over and sniffing at her kitchen table. It was moving its deformed, shapeless head back and forth, inhaling deeply and stopping at a patch of wood which was darker than the rest. It leaned even closer to it.

"It's Sasuke's blood," it said as it drew back, voice deep and gurgling.

Her eyes darted back to the mask that lowered to meet face-to-face with her and she was caught by blood red eyes gleaming through the slits. She felt dizzy and the world span.

"Where are they?"

Unknown to Charon, her own eyes started glowing red with the question and three black tomoes span into existence within them. Her mouth opened and although she didn't know where the words had come from originally, they felt right dropping from her lips. She stopped struggling, body lax.

"Gone," she croaked, her throat clenching and unclenching beneath Madara's gloved hand. "Nothing to do with you. Gone."

Madara snarled at the sharingan within the old woman's eyes. He tightened his grip and beneath a blast of chakra the house, the entire village around him, went up in flames.

From the other side of the port, the horizon of the Water Country turned red.

* * *

><p>It was Spring, the forest fragrant with the nectar of blooming flowers and the musk of animals emerging from hibernation.<p>

In the villages and towns, what season it was didn't make much of a difference anymore. It was only noticed when those especially freezing days in Winter made the state of the great nations seem more glum than usual. It was a completely different story in the wilderness however, and as Sasuke ran through this particular forest for the first time in over a month, he could see how the bare branches had become clothed in green and gold, how tucked away in this small corner of the world, one cycle hadn't changed. The crying of cicadas and birds cloaked the sounds of his own movements and it was easy to remember the days of unimportant, D-rank missions in the safe, peaceful woods surrounding Konoha.

The trees began reaching higher as the ground beneath started sloping upwards and Sasuke leapt up them agilely, cutting over a stream that was racing rapidly down the mountainside. He was a grown man now. Those days of simple, time-wasting missions were over, and it was thanks to more than mere misfortune that the new generation may not have the chance to experience them.

In the back of a cave twenty miles from the centre of Lightning Country's Tokoyo village, he passed his hand over some of the large, mossy stones that piled up to support the cave. No other chakra signatures could be sensed for miles and he comfortably forced his own chakra into the air beneath his palm. The rocks at first didn't change at all. Then the edges started looking a little less sharp, and the entire sheet of wall shimmered before disappearing to reveal a gaping, black hole.

The rock wall reappeared immediately after he walked through, as solid as it had been before. Plunged into darkness, the second cave was completely and utterly black. A few steps into it, he leapt up to crouch upside down upon the ceiling, falling short of activating the traps that he had set up when he had first discovered the cave and the hollowed out mountain that it protruded from. He let his eyes bleed red and his vision instantly returned to him. Cloak hanging around him like a bat, he carefully searched the rock surface until he found a single point, which he again forced some of his chakra into. A glowing, blue seal materialised into being a few inches above the rock. He bit his right thumb to draw blood and reached behind himself with his other hand to retrieve a scroll clasped upon his belt. Bringing it to his mouth, he used his teeth to tug loose the red tie around it and unfurled it with a _swish_. The opened scroll was held flat against the rock with his left hand on one side and his right knee on the other to reveal the circular seal painted on it. The centre was blank, and he lined this up with the seal glowing beneath it on the rock.

After pressing his bleeding thumb against each of his other fingers so that blood inked all of them, he placed his digits firmly against the blank space of the scroll. Muttering words under his breath, he began slowly drawing his hand away from the parchment. The seal beneath was gradually pulled up through the previously blank area of the scroll, and he kept on pulling his hand back and the seal kept on rising until it had become a solid, uneven handhold. He took this and twisted it clockwise.

The sound of something unlocking echoed through the cave. He calmly put away the scroll, watching the rock above him spiral slowly in on itself like a vortex. When the space that was created was wide enough he pulled himself up through it, landing crouched over on the ground in front of the hole. Like in the previous cave, it closed itself back up the moment he was through.

He stood up and immediately, he felt a potent combination of warmth and tiredness wash over his entire body. He inhaled and closed his eyes momentarily to bask in the sensation, like a man easing his sore body into the healing waters of a waiting spring. Carelessly, he pulled off the new cloak that he had bought at the market in a nearby village and tossed it to the side. A sleeveless, black tank replaced the white top that he had originally set out in, now destroyed by a fireball to eradicate any evidence of his blood and chakra signature on it.

The torches lining the walls of the antechamber flickered invitingly to him and he strode up the three steps that lead to the main chamber, a little impatient. This chamber was the only place that he could allow himself to succumb to fatigue but even then, he was only willing to show it for a little while. After all, his rivalry with Naruto still burnt strong despite everything.

The main chamber was large but near empty, with only the liquidly smooth light from the candles and torches to drive away the shadows at the edges. Sasuke never extinguished these lights, even when he wasn't there and even though he could see just fine without them. Something about the thought of plunging Naruto alone and into darkness had never sat right. Not back then, not now. He deactivated his sharingan as he stepped into the chamber.

Automatically, his eyes travelled to the back of the rounded out room, to where Naruto's unmoving form lay at the top of a set of stone steps. Although the cave had been given the best protection that he could think of, he still felt a wave of relief wash over him at seeing him there. Without hesitation, he was at Naruto's side and taking in the other's appearance.

Naruto was wearing a loose, white top with buttons at the top, done up to below his collarbone so that the edge of the seal over his heart and the seal around his neck were clearly visible. His feet were bare, legs covered with black capri pants that similarly left the seals around his ankles exposed. Only the seals on his wrists were covered by the long, wide sleeves of his top, and Sasuke leant over him to briefly check each wrist. He had disposed of Naruto's orange jumpsuit long ago when he had seen to its use as a diversion near the beginning of their self-imposed exile. The sightings of a transformed clone wearing Naruto's trademark orange jumpsuit and chakra signature near Konoha had allowed them to travel relatively uninhibited to the West and to Lightning. Afterwards, Sasuke had not been able to bring himself to replace the orange.

The way Naruto was resting upon the stone–and Sasuke had done this purposely – made him seem like he was only sleeping, free to wake up and wreak his typical noise and havoc whenever he wished. His left arm was flat by his side and the right was folded with his hand across his stomach. His face was tilted very slightly to the left to face Sasuke and his lips were parted just the barest of millimetres, his face captured in the expression of a person mid-breath in their slumber.

"I'm back," Sasuke said quietly to him, sitting on the step one below Naruto's resting place. Naruto stayed motionless and Sasuke's eyes lingered on the faint whisker marks. Of course there was no reply, no welcome back which an awake Naruto had been waiting three years to say.

Sasuke leant forward and with a few fingers he pushed a long, blonde lock of hair from Naruto's face. It had been tickling the tip of the blonde's nose and Sasuke realised that he was long overdue for a trim again. He hadn't seen Naruto in over a month. He had been busy in the Water Country.

Pulling a kunai with a _shing_ from the holster tied around his upper thigh, he turned back to the blonde and made quick but deft work of the hair around his face, removing centimetres of soft gold until it was only a bit longer than it had been when he was seventeen. His eyes made a habit of sliding back to Naruto's face every now and again, instinctively waiting for a scowl of indignation to cross the naturally tan features, a slightly paler hue than it had once been. When he was done with the locks around Naruto's face, he carefully lifted the blonde's upper body and let him lean against his own chest, chin resting upon Sasuke's shoulder. Naruto's body was real and warm through his clothes and he wrapped his arms around him, carefully cutting the hair at the back to a slightly longer length than at the front. He avoided the long hair at the base of Naruto's neck though, which he had avoided cutting since the beginning.

Naruto had aged slower in these seven years. He looked no older than nineteen at the latest, while Sasuke's own appearance was of the 24 years that they both should have been. The Uchiha's pointed chin had become wider and stronger than Naruto's, his face slightly longer than before and with less pronounced cheek bones. He didn't even need to get started on height, which would definitely become a sore spot when Naruto realised that he had fallen behind on what progress he'd made in their teen years and was, yet again, a head shorter than the Uchiha. Some kind of deranged pride of Sasuke's had made a rivalry even out of their growth, but had balked uncomfortably at the thought that his younger teammate was being robbed of years of his life and yet had nothing to show for it.

He had been tempted to unseal Naruto, many times. Only Naruto's complete trust in him had stopped him and he had forced himself to stay his hand, reluctantly letting Naruto live on in his slowed down existence.

But in retaliation, he had refused to cut some of Naruto's hair. Instead, he let it grow until it was now at his lower back just above his waist, evidence at least that time had in fact passed for Naruto. At the same time, he had not allowed his own hair to grow out. Far aside from the fact that he had nothing against looking any more similar to his deceased brother than he already did, he told himself that he wanted his idiot teammate to be able to recognise him when he woke up, and not to think that he had been handed over by Sasuke to an edo-tensei revived Itachi Uchiha.

Meticulously, he cleaned up all the hairs that glowed on the dark ground and wrapped them in a white cloth, sealing everything into a scroll. It might come in useful later. When he was done he settled back into his position beside Naruto and started talking to him. It was a far cry from the past when Naruto would be the one babbling everything about his day, down to the last unimportant detail about how many bowls of ramen Iruka had treated him to. Now, Sasuke told him about what he had been doing, where he had been, who he had met. He hesitated, and couldn't bring an apology to his lips for being away for so long, or for what he had done.

"Why would you do that?"

He sighed.

He glanced sideways to where a 12 year old Naruto stood frowning next to a torch bracket.

The blonde took a step forward, clad in that horrifically bright orange and blue jumpsuit. Sasuke's sharingan span and changed from three tomoes into its pinwheel form.

"Don't Sasuke," the young Naruto said sadly, voice reverberating in the chamber. "Don't kill people for my sake."

"I don't know if you're real," Sasuke murmured but his eyes nonetheless fell upon the other, taking in the apparition with a hungry yearning.

His sharingan had once allowed him to see inside Naruto's mind. He had tried again after Naruto was sealed but failed to see anything but darkness. He gave up in frustration, cursing his bleeding eyes that wouldn't show him what he wanted most. However, when he came back to the real world, he would sometimes see …

"He's still a selfish jerk!" an 8 year old Naruto exclaimed from right behind him, hands upon his hips in annoyance. He lifted one and jabbed at Sasuke's chest, the motion unfelt by the Uchiha. "Think about other people once in awhile!"

The twelve year old Naruto was more understanding and gently pulled his younger self away.

"It's our fault he did it."

"No," Sasuke said dismissively. "He's right. I am selfish." He looked hard at the 12 year old, at the Naruto that he had known the best. Naruto winced and looked away. He was also the Naruto that Sasuke had hurt the most.

"I won't lose you," he said, his voice echoing in the cave. "If it means that I have to sacrifice a village to keep it that way, I'll do it. No matter how many other children there are in it."

"But you saved Akio!" Naruto said, the skin around his blue eyes creasing as he frowned. The eight year old Naruto had disappeared. It often ended up this way, and Sasuke supposed that it was because he and Naruto had only been around each other occasionally during that time of their lives.

Of course, it may have just been that Sasuke's mind had not yet deteriorated to that point.

"Idiot. His grandmother did me a favour. I was returning it."

Naruto's expression was pained as he stared at him. Sasuke worried that this Naruto would disappear as well and refuse to come back. His fear was realised when Naruto began to fade, blue eyes never leaving him as Sasuke reached out.

"Wait, Naruto! I'm sorry!"

He was gone.

Sasuke slumped on the steps and looked back down at the motionless Naruto on the platform. He had apologised too late. Seven years of this tortured existence. Was it not enough to make up for the same agony that he had put Naruto through?

Perhaps not.

After all, he still had Naruto here with him, and he reassured himself of this by running the back of his fingers floatingly across a soft, whiskered cheek. Breathing, occasionally there but barely perceptible, tickled his fingertips. He lifted his hand away but stayed where he was sitting, resting his body close to Naruto's and allowing himself to slowly recover from his long journey to the Water Country. Never again. He refused to be away from Naruto again for so long, away from the person that was all that sustained his slowly dying appetite for humanity. His imagination had run wild during that time as he questioned the strength of the measures that he had left behind to keep Naruto hidden.

Finally back with the only person to remain in his life and that actually mattered, he allowed himself to sink into a content sleep, preliminary dreams of a free world like the days of his childhood nudging him further. He wondered if it was possible for Naruto to wake up to that, such a world as he had never known. Then again, the blonde would probably never forgive him for taking care of everything himself.

Just how much longer would they have to wait?

* * *

><p>The next day, Sasuke planned to go to the dojo. Before doing that though, he stopped first to satiate the hunger that he had finally noticed upon leaving the cave. Due to Naruto's lack of necessity for food, he tended to disregard his own needs when he was with him. It couldn't be good for him but he had been unable to regulate his eating patterns. After a generous meal at a familiar dango restaurant in downtown Tokoyo, he made his way over to the dojo, a small, traditional building located close to the centre of the village.<p>

On his way there he plucked an apple from one of the vendor carts lining the street. The owner made no complaint at the lack of payment, instead completely ignoring him and continuing to happily organise her other produce. None of them ever had anything to say and Sasuke felt that he deserved at least such for keeping the Zetsu away from this area. As it was still early in the morning the marketplace was relatively uncrowded. The few people that were there set about their rituals without paying any attention to the last Uchiha, which pleased him. He had come to appreciate the advantages of a low profile, a stark contrast to his earlier years.

The dojo he was visiting was the only one in Tokoyo. It could not compare to the Academy at Konoha but it was nonetheless respectable at teaching basic ninjutsu and taijutsu. Considering how other villages were faring in these dark times, it was actually one of the better ones that Sasuke had come across. Many others had been purposely destroyed under Madara's orders and Sasuke thought that he had a pretty accurate idea as to why those orders had been given.

To eradicate the institutes that bred shinobi was to, in some instances, destroy the livelihood of that village. Shinobi were necessary for many small tasks around villages and towns, as well as for the vital role of reinforcing the shields against Madara's creations. The infestation of the main roads to the five great nations meant that the smaller nations and their villages had been forced to become self-serving. It had just become far too dangerous to travel to one of the great nations for anything less than an emergency. Although Madara's inception of the moon-eye plan had been foiled, this strain that he placed on small towns and villages was just as effective in making many of them yield to his demands.

Sasuke stood leaning at the entrance of the small training hall of this particular dojo, uneaten apple held loosely by his side. Two dozen young students were crammed into the room, practising simple kick and twist manoeuvres on the wooden floorboards. Sasuke was looking at one boy in particular. Feeling the gaze upon him, the brown haired child with green eyes stopped his movements and turned towards the entrance. Sasuke crouched down to eye level and curious, the boy broke ranks to run over to him.

"What are you doing, mister?" he asked loudly, despite coming to a screeching stop right in front of the Uchiha.

Akio didn't recognise him and Sasuke's lips twitched slightly.

"I am visiting," he informed him. "I used to be a student once." Not exactly a lie.

Akio's eyes widened incredulously. "Mister, you're a shinobi?" he asked, and the reverence that Sasuke had heard before was still in his voice. He nodded and Akio looked impressed. This time Sasuke's lips did quirk deprecatingly. It was so much easier for a shinobi to gain respect nowadays. They were a dying species after all.

"Your sensei told me that you're new here," he lied, inclining his head towards the burly man assisting students with their stances. "How are you finding the classes?"

Akio smiled brightly, a truly happy smile. "I like them very much!" he replied enthusiastically. "Sometimes they're hard, but I'll become a great ninja!"

Sasuke nodded, satisfied. He ruffled Akio's brown hair and gave him the apple in his other hand.

"Good luck."

Akio reminded Sasuke enough of another boisterous, hopeful child that he could easily believe that Akio would make a good shinobi. With a bit of luck, he could get far.

Akio had hurried back to the other pupils after thanking Sasuke profusely for the apple. Sasuke knew that Akio probably hadn't eaten one in many years and the way the boy savoured the fruit after thanking Sasuke bequeathed the Uchiha with a similar sense of fulfilment. He shook his head.

It must have been Naruto's influence.

The sounds of bare feet skidding on wood followed him as he walked back down the pebbled path that lead through a garden in front of the dojo. Sliding the gate closed, he let his feet take him down any road. It wasn't even noon yet and his particular agenda for the day was over. The options of a rogue ninja in hiding were seriously limited.

In the beginning, he had spent his time planning for the future. The part with Naruto being in it needed no confirmation in his mind and so was quickly glossed over. The other part, involving the plotting of Madara's destruction, had gotten unbecoming. Every plan had unquestioningly included Naruto in it and since his eccentric teammate had never stuck to plans, Sasuke's thinking was all for nil.

He could train in the woods but training no longer held the appeal that it once had. For one thing, he had to be extremely careful about practising the vast majority of his ninjutsu. A missing acre of trees was not subtle in the least. For another, training by himself only made him yearn for a person to challenge him, arousing feelings better left unstirred. Whether it be a great bitterness for the lost days of friendly spars, or a dangerous recklessness that urged him to leave Tokoyo and find someone worthy to incite, neither was a sensible thought to be having.

He sighed as he exited the marketplace again, activating his sharingan. Zetsu hunting it was, and his hand came up to land restlessly on the handle of his katana, the weapon hanging loosely from the waist of his hakama pants. His Kusanagi was the only relic that remained from his training with Orochimaru, but it continued to serve him well.

He was unpleasantly surprised to locate and kill four of the creatures within a kilometre radius of the marketplace. It seemed that they had taken advantage of his absence to sneak in and take root all over the village. Disgusting parasites. He hadn't ghosted over Tokoyo for seven years just to let them feast upon it now. Watching them burn to smouldering ashes mollified his disgruntlement slightly but they had offered very little by ways of a fight. Zetsu may be powerful against civilians but they were an incomplete experiment, weak against shinobi when alone.

He had just disposed of one in an alley and was searching for more of the small chakra signatures when he found another, stronger signature instead. He paused in the middle of the street and turned to face the East, the direction that it was coming from. Inquisitively, he scanned the air and his sharingan caught traces of red chakra on the horizon. The chakra itself held a familiarity from another time that he had almost forgotten, brushing over him in a way that wasn't threatening, but suggested that that could easily change that at any moment. It wasn't Madara's however, and since the other Uchiha was the only serious cause for concern, Sasuke remained calm. Whoever it was, they had just entered Tokoyo and appeared to be in no particular rush. Their movements were unhurried and they were travelling at a leisurely pace, sometimes stopping to possibly inspect merchandise lining the streets.

He went towards that chakra instead, weaving through the small crowds of people that had increased in the hours leading up to noon. He regulated his own chakra until it was no more than that of a normal person. Whoever it was, he –because Sasuke was sure that he had never met a female with so much chakra – had reserves almost as large as Naruto's had been. He was extremely curious as to who this mysterious person could be and what they were doing all the way in the far West. Casually, he kept a steady, purposeful pace, making turns where the man did so that they would eventually meet.

_Who could it be?_

Some minutes later, the mysterious shinobi was entering the same street as him and he mirrored the others footsteps, calm and steady against the dirt ground. He wasn't tensed at all but with his speed, there was no need to be. One sign of a threat, and this man's head would be rolling from his shoulders before the metal of a kunai could be seen. They came closer.

Three steps. Two. One. They were passing each other…

Like the meeting of eyes between two travellers on the same lonely road, their gazes slid simultaneously sideways. Sasuke saw an emerald green, less bright than the vivid hue of his other ex-teammate. Without so much as a flicker of recognition he broke the contact and continued walking, taking the next left that he reached. A heavy frown was allowed to surface on his face as the shadow of a building fell over him.

Behind him, Gaara of the Desert turned into another street.

_What is he doing here?_

Gaara's chakra had changed slightly and that was probably what had prevented Sasuke from identifying him initially. Now that he was focusing on it, he could recognise the underlying power and trace demonic chakra as distinctly belonging to the sand shinobi that he had met many years ago. The loss of his bijuu had probably caused the difference. As far as Sasuke knew, Gaara was still the Kazekage. It was nothing less than troubling that a person of such importance was travelling the infested countryside alone. The worry was not for Gaara, because aside from that temporary, childish fixation during the Chuunin exams, Sasuke had never particularly cared for the man.

No. That wasn't it.

He could guess at two explanations for Gaara's solidarity. The first was the less alarming of the two and if the rumours concerning the once powerful Suna military were true, then this might be such a consequence. Word had spread over the past year that there were no longer enough shinobi in Suna to spare. It was common knowledge that all of the great nations had suffered huge casualties during the war and combined with Madara's efforts to destroy the shinobi heritage, it meant that a large impact on military strength was not all too hard to comprehend.

It was the second possible explanation that pushed Sasuke to change directions and promptly enter the forest by jumping over the wooden posts that surrounded the village, intending to get back to Naruto quickly. He landed gracefully on the ground before pushing himself forwards into a quick run, leaves and branches whipping past him without ever touching.

No matter the village, every Kage always had advisors that hung over them like vultures. When the advisors couldn't fulfil this role by themselves they would still almost always send someone else, whether their lord approved of it or not. Danzou and his creation, Root, had been a prime example. Sasuke had checked thoroughly and no other foreign chakra had entered Tokoyo. Gaara was most definitely alone and the ever present wary voice in Sasuke's mind just knew that the redhead had shaken off his guards.

For Gaara to demand such secrecy could only mean that whatever he was dealing with was delicate and of vital importance. Sasuke was suspicious by nature. Whatever it was, it was something that Gaara would trust only himself to investigate.

Something like the last Jinchuuriki, Naruto.

Meaning that someone, somewhere, had breathed a whisper of their whereabouts and eventually, that whisper had reached the Kazekage's ears.

Sasuke clenched his back teeth and the next tree he landed on split down the trunk beneath his stirring annoyance. Gaara was no ally of his. Even if he had come all this way, Sasuke refused to trust anyone else where Naruto was concerned. The only good thing he could say about Gaara at present was that by coming alone and presumably in secrecy, Sasuke wouldn't have to worry about the rumour mill going into overdrive. Loyal to their lords as they were, shinobi could still spread news at a notoriously fast pace. He would have been hard pressed to find a reason to let any of Gaara's companions live.

Not that Gaara was necessarily going to leave Tokoyo alive, either.

Sasuke could almost feel Tokoyo's protection unravelling at the edges and he berated himself. He should have been more careful. Itachi's edo-tensei had been destroyed mere miles away from here. It had been unbeatable, one of the only ones to last so long without being sealed away.

Of course everyone would suspect the person who had killed him in the first place.

He came to a perfect stop on the next branch that he landed on, his chakra control so perfect that momentum didn't propel him forward a single inch. His mind raced as it considered and discarded several thoughts in quick succession, jumping from option to option in an attempt settle on a good path of action.

If the diversion in the Water Country had indeed failed, then he and Naruto would just have to leave Tokoyo. They were done for if Madara himself came to investigate. But leaving was easier said than done. Sasuke had many potential places in mind that they could go to but there were so many risks involved with moving Naruto. Travelling left them completely exposed. Setting up barriers in the new location would take time, and none of said locations that came to mind were as suited as Tokoyo for casting his genjutsu over. He cursed. His carelessness may have undone seven years of careful treading.

He eyes widened slightly and he cursed himself more when Gaara's chakra suddenly disappeared from the other end of Tokoyo, reappearing right behind him. Instantly, his chakra flared, his body naturally shifting from stealth to the offensive as he whipped around to face the other. Gaara's deep voice filled the clearing that they were in, aqua eyes on Sasuke's now exposed form.

"I was right. Only an Uchiha could cast such a perfect genjutsu."

Sasuke was worried. One thing that he hadn't been able to change no matter how much time passed was his impulsiveness.

And right now, he desperately wanted to kill someone.

_End of Chapter 1._


	3. Chapter 2

**Beyond War**

By Om0cha.

_**Chapter 2: The Better Man**_

The Land of Whirlpools was a small island of hills and valleys, permanently shrouded in humid fog and well out of the way of any routes to surrounding countries. According to the maps kept under trap, lock and key within the Hokage's personal library, it could be located at roughly three days journey by boat from the Fire Country's Southern border. The island itself was entirely covered with seals that had weakened over the years but which were still active based on the accounts of a few daring and outlandish fishermen, speaking loudly and without humility of their escapades. As a result of these seals, the island was hidden from all except those who specifically sought it out.

Even knowing all of this, it had still been notoriously difficult to find.

Ragged-edged shadows were visible through the haze from the shoreline and it was towards these that Tsunade walked, leaving her small, wooden boat to roost on the pebbled beach behind her. The fog was thicker on the shores of the island than in its centre and the further onwards she walked, the more clear everything became, glowing eerily where the sunlight brokenly filtered through. After a small, sparse forest she reached the urban area.

Collapsed buildings, fallen lines and huge masses of other construction debris scattered what had once been a wide main street. As she stepped her way down a small, winding path that was at least partly debris-free, her gaze rolled across the faded, twisted signs that stuck out stiffly like needles from the remnants, some spattered with dried blood that had turned brown with age. The bodies that the blood had been shed from were long gone, whether through nature's course or taken by some other human, Tsunade wouldn't know.

The horizon in front of her was flat and it was plain to see that not a single building had been left standing in the city. She felt a delayed grief set in at this. To think that this was all that was left of her grandmother's birthplace. She had come here only once before in her childhood, sitting proudly on her grandfather's shoulders as they walked down the street and her grandmother showed her off to her people. That memory was of delight and fascination, a disbelieving adoration for the city of glowing tiles and azure pools that was the most beautiful place she had ever seen.

Her high heels clacked loudly on the now shattered tiles, the sound only accompanied by the perpetual trickling of water that seemed to flow everywhere in this place. It snaked under the rubble, into pits and down slopes, ending in small pools that swirled like mini whirlpools upon themselves. The city was slowly being reclaimed by nature.

Tsunade stayed wary but doubted that she would actually run into any threats here. The once legendary Land of Whirlpools was like no-man's-land, not to be tampered with lightly. As a descendant bearing one of the seals of the clan upon her forehead, she knew that she had at least some level of protection from any of the warning seals that the long dead clan may have left behind.

It took her awhile, but at the very edge of a blooming forest and next to a pool of water that was miraculously still crystal clear, she found the rubble of the tower that had once housed the country's diplomatic leaders. The shattered spiral that had adorned the front of the building lay cracked in half towards the front of the wreckage. She scanned for a place to start in the huge pile in front of her.

She paused and did a double take when she noticed that some metres into the centre of the mass there was an indenture, the wood around it piled higher than the surrounding area further out. Stumbling slightly over a few uneven hills, she made her way through the debris to that spot and could now clearly make out a hole that had been dug several metres down and into the solid ground beneath.

Someone had been there before her.

She leapt into the carved out space and landed neatly near the edge, steadying herself with one hand on the wall of twisted wood behind her. Crouching down so that she wouldn't block the dim light from illuminating the ground, she examined the surface carefully. Several small lines of troughs in the dirt caught her attention.

She bent over the middle to brush away some of the dirt to the side with the back of her fingers and a little of it seemed to fall in on itself and downwards instead, deepening the troughs on the surface. The ground beneath her was hollow and she quickly continued moving the dirt away with both palms, excited at what she may have discovered yet edgy with a growing trepidation at who may have found it before her. A few more wide sweeps later and she was hastily fanning away the small dust cloud that had been stirred up, a wooden plank door inset with a small ring handle now revealed in the earth. The metal of the handle in the door was as shiny as the day that it had been cast, a special quality of the Whirlpool Country's resources so as to stop rust from forming in the humid climate.

She ran her fingers along the smooth, metal ring and tugged at it experimentally. The door jerked without opening and a loud, magnified sound similar to that of sand in an hourglass suddenly came from below her, stopping when all the particles loosened by her action came to rest. The door remained harmless looking. The layer of dirt above it had been fairly thick and whoever the previous visitor had been they had come here a long time ago.

As she was pondering her next move, a sudden loud _poof_ sounded from above her and brilliant, white smoke began wafting in copious quantities into the hole, making her withdraw her hand and look dubiously at the slowly flooding air around her.

"Tsunade-sama!"

Recognising the familiar voice with some surprise, she stood up and cranked her neck to look upwards, shielding her eyes with her hand against some bright sunlight that had sneaked through the haze. Perched precariously on a plank of wood hanging over the edge of the hole that she was in, a mini version of Katsuya was waving her antennae down at her, a small scroll stuck to her back.

"Katsuya," she exclaimed.

"I have a message from Konoha!" Katsuya called down to her, and the slug's body constricted as she prepared to jump into the hole. Tsunade hastily stopped her with a raised hand.

"Hold on a moment! I'll come up there instead."

She jumped back out easily to land behind her summon. Reaching down, she deftly plucked the scroll from the slime that Katsuya had used to bind it to herself, making sure to also move the slug away from the tilting wood. Straightening with the slightly damp scroll in hand, she felt a trickle of anxiety as she undid the seal on it and began unknotting the red string that kept it shut. Katsuya slowly rotated with several small backwards and forwards squelches until she was facing Tsunade.

"Did something happen in Konoha?" Tsunade asked. Sakura rarely used Katsuya to send messages. Her last contact with Konoha had been almost a year ago.

As the scroll's contents were revealed she was surprised to see not Sakura's neat writing, but the calligraphy-like script of Kakashi.

"Hokage-sama requested for Sakura to send this," Katsuya explained as Tsunade began reading. "It concerns Naruto-kun." Tsunade's manicured fingers gripped tightly onto the parchment as she read to the end of the short script.

"How certain are they about this information?" she demanded. She reread the message and the short excerpt from Gaara that Kakashi had included word for word, trying to ascertain just how much value she should place on this news.

"The Kazekage is already acting as we speak," Katsuya chirped, "but he sent a message to Konoha just in case something should happen. Tokoyo is very close to where Itachi Uchiha's edo-tensei was destroyed."

"I'm aware of Itachi's sealing," Tsunade murmured, frowning and lowering the scroll. She gave Katsuya a look that asked for confirmation from the slug. "I've heard a lot of rumours saying that Sasuke did it."

"There have been rumours like that in Konoha as well," Katsuya replied. "Sakura is already making preparations to depart for Tokoyo herself."

"I don't approve of that." Tsunade said swiftly. "Make sure that she doesn't go." She flexed her wrist and the scroll began to burn in her hands. The parchment withered away and the miniscule charred pieces that remained were allowed to fly from her fingers and into the debris.

"But…"

"Sakura should know that Madara is keeping her under close surveillance," Tsunade said as she lowered her hand. "If she suddenly leaves the village then it would be exactly the kind of thing that would put him on full alert. That's the last thing we want if by some miracle those two brats really are in Tokoyo."

"I understand. I will stop her."

The thought that Itachi had been destroyed by Sasuke was a definite possibility and Tsunade could quite understand her pupil's desperate need to investigate things for herself. She had once felt the same desire to chase after Orochimaru and Jiraiya respectively. However, she was having a great degree of difficulty believing that the young Uchiha would take such a risk near – if that was indeed the case –the place where he and Naruto were hiding. To be honest, she was a bit huffed that Gaara and Kakashi were placing so much weight on this without giving her a good reason. Kids. Couldn't they do things properly and without leaving potholes everywhere for her to fill in after them?

"The Hokage and Kazekage both think that this is the best lead we have," Katsuya said, correctly interpreting the silence and furrowed lines on Tsunade's face. "They want to get there and have a look around before Madara does the same thing."

Tsunade sighed. She had heard that line many times in the past few years. Needless to say, the many fruitless trips to all corners of the world had made her rather sceptical. The next time she saw Kakashi she would have to teach him something about using his extra eyes and ears _well_. At this rate he would end up with a mutiny in his office.

Though she _was_ slightly mollified by the sure thought that at least Madara would be feeling equally if not more frustrated. The man had already waited a century after all, and she could empathise with old age. She couldn't help a smirk and shook her head to herself. The eyes on the top of Katsuya's antennae blinked concernedly at the deliberating woman that only waved her hand flippantly in reply.

"Tell Kakashi that I will meet with Gaara and look into it. _But_," she intonated sternly, "go back and make sure that he gets a proper report on this to me before I reach Tokoyo. If he is wrong again, I will not be happy."

Katsuya clearly interpreted that to mean that Kakashi would end up with a very livid woman in his office, and it would be a significantly scarier version of Sakura. Regular visitors to the Hokage Tower bemoaned the day that Sakura had been made assistant to the Hokage. What with the combination of an obsessively strict assistant and overly relaxed Lord, peace in the place was even less than when Naruto and Tsunade had terrorised it in combo. Katsuya quivered at the time that she had been summoned by Tsunade, only to be thrown over the table and at the other screeching blonde.

"Understood."

"I will see you soon, then. Thank you Katsuya." Tsunade nodded curtly, glint in eye. She trusted that Katsuya would get that report to her, even if the slug had to beat Sakura into going to beat up Kakashi for it.

Katsuya waved her antennae lazily again. "Take care Tsunade-sama." She disappeared with a distinctly wet _pop_ and another large plume of wafting smoke.

After she had gone, Tsunade set her sights back on the trapdoor as the smoke blew past her on a light breeze. The dark wood and metal glinted mysteriously up at her from through the white. At least this particular voyage might yield something and with a deep breath, she braced herself to get past what she was almost sure would be a mini obstacle course underneath that door.

_Well, grandmother. You always did want me to learn more of your jutsu._

* * *

><p>Sasuke could feel the urge for bloodshed clawing like a starved animal in the back of his mind, turning his eyes crimson whenever the creature won a little bit over rationality. The Zetsu that he had massacred earlier were like a warm-up, giving him a taste of what more he might receive now. Better yet, it was the Kazekage standing before him, who at the very least should provide him with a chance for some proper training, if not act as a decent opponent. With difficulty, he fought down the animalistic urges and forced his fingers away from where they had edged to halfway towards his Kusanagi's handle.<p>

When he felt uncertain of things it was an impulsive instinct of his to annihilate and just get rid of the problem. Normally it worked, too, and there was no evidence a quick fireball could not erase afterwards. Something told him however, that if the Kazekage wound up missing (and presumably dead) and his last known direction was towards a small town in the very corner of the shinobi nations, there would be at least some repercussions to follow. It didn't really matter anyway. This was his territory, not the sandy deserts of Suna, nor the battlefields where shinobi called Gaara 'general'. He could afford to shelve his bloodlust for a little while longer if necessary.

Keeping his eyes trained on the other, Sasuke allowed himself to inwardly marvel at how much Gaara changed each time they met. First the unstable assassin, then the altruistic Kage, and now as something in between the two – because Sasuke was sure that the other would not be so lenient to him again. War tended to do that to a person, he had seen it enough to know. No matter how strong the personality had been before, the grime of war would taint and obscure it until every person was the same, battle-hardened drone. Gaara and everyone else couldn't hold a candle to his own stubborn personality though, which had been on the extremely antagonistic side of the spectrum every time, fuelled not by war but by his near lifelong ambition for revenge, a taxing strain to have had since he was a child. However, whether it be by ignorance or foolish bravery, Gaara pertinently disregarded this and stood calmly across from him as the wind began to pick up amongst the leaves.

"You have always been very irrational when it comes to your brother," Gaara said passively to him, picking deliberately at the seams that had only very recently been mended. "Very predictable. You can be sure that I will be only the first of many people coming here to investigate in the next few weeks."

Sasuke thought nothing of the jibe and instead measured the distance between them. He may have been arrogant but he planned well given the necessity and rarely underestimated his enemies. Sarcasm belied his response as with satisfaction, he marked their distance as being such that he could easily move into a short or long range degree at a whim.

"When did you and I reach such a level of understanding?"

Gaara lips curved up very slightly at the edges. Sasuke's eyes darted up to observe the movement, pondering how foreign the expression was on the other, and not only because he hadn't seen him in 7 years. Like himself, Gaara had matured well. The Kazekage that had once been even shorter than Naruto was now of a very solid height and masculine stature, perhaps even taller than Sasuke.

"Even now, you labour under the belief that you are so different to everyone else," Gaara said. Sasuke bristled and grit his back teeth at the words that he had once heard in a different lifetime from Kakashi."I once told you that we are the same," Gaara continued without notice. "We've both seen the darkness in this world, but I saw that sliver of light…once."

"Naruto, huh?"

Gaara didn't try to avoid Sasuke's oddly unblinking eyes and if there was a genjutsu then he was already in it.

"We are similar in that respect as well," he said.

"You say that we are similiar. I assume then that you know what I am thinking right now."

"I would safely wager that you are considering killing me," Gaara answered calmly.

Sasuke regarded him wordlessly for a moment. Gaara's infuriatingly blank expression was somehow even worse than the first time he'd seen it, when Gaara had still been an uncontained murderer.

"Am I right?"

Sasuke's eyes flashed. The red tint took over and the air around him crackled with lightning.

"Are you that eager to die?" he asked lowly, slowly releasing and letting his chakra have more rein than he'd allowed it for a month.

"You don't scare me, Uchiha."

Gaara's sand had instinctively responded to the threat with no thought of his own and it was now floating in sluggish sheets around his body. "This mission is far too important for me to walk away from empty handed."

Sasuke stretched out his own arms in front of himself. For anyone else it would be an almost fatal move that left his chest area exposed and his hands far from any weapons or each other to form a seal with. He actually saw Gaara briefly consider what opening could be made out of his stance. Useless.

"I suppose you expect me to just hand Naruto over to you?" he asked sardonically. The words brought Gaara's attention back up to his face. He saw the first taint of some unknown emotion enter teal eyes as he continued goading him.

"Give me one good reason why I should allow you of all people to the Kyuubi? I'm sure that whatever you could offer me, Madara would give tenfold."

Gaara had recollected whatever it was that had surfaced and he did not show it if Sasuke's callous suggestions of his old teammate's worth disturbed him. "Perhaps you are right," he said instead. "I should be thankful that you aren't willing to give him up so easily or else Madara would have already executed his plan. But given what has happened recently, I believe that Naruto would be safer with the alliance. He should come back to us."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously so that the red glowed, slit-like.

"You have some nerve saying that," he growled. He hadn't only been hiding from Madara. He had been just as determined to keep a single blonde hair from being glimpsed by anyone in the shinobi army. He was sure that Gaara knew this too, otherwise Sasuke would have easily contacted any of them in the past seven years.

"We can give him the best protection," Gaara insisted. "We have been preparing for his return."

"So you believe that your jutsu exceed my own." Sasuke flexed one hand in the other and scowled darkly. "It seems that I have been underestimated."

"Far from it."

Gaara took a step forward and held one hand out to Sasuke, a peaceful action. With it, Sasuke was reminded of how much Naruto had impacted upon this man's life, taking him from a solitary existence. If it weren't for Naruto then no one alive would have a care for Sasuke's own wellbeing, either. As it was, it wasn't a genuine concern that these people held for him and so he similarly felt nothing as he looked at that outstretched hand.

"We want you to come back as well," Gaara said. Slick agreeability cloaked a personal desire, practised many times on disagreeable daimyos and councilmen. "I don't know what deal you had with Naruto but you will still be able to keep it. The alliance will welcome the both of you."

"Where have I heard that before?" Sasuke asked sarcastically, throwing the hand a contemptuous look. "I don't think that you are telling me the entire truth, _Kazekage_. I am sure that the Raikage for one, would not let me off so easily."

"This isn't the time for pettiness. The both of you are in danger right now. The Raikage knows that and we hope that you can understand as well. If you come back quietly then you have my guarantee as the Kazekage that you won't be threatened."

"I would have never thought it before, but diplomacy suits you. However," tired of the tattle, Sasuke flicked his fingers near his ear and Gaara watched the action inquisitively, "you should be careful when speaking with someone that has better bargaining power than you."

The wind around them blew into a gust and the clouds in the sky grew dark within seconds, moving much too fast over them to be considered natural. Gaara looked up and appraised the spectacle, impressed by the eerie atmosphere that Sasuke had effortlessly created.

"Like Naruto used to say," he commented offhandedly, "you never fail to show off."

A bolt of blue lightning abruptly zigzagged a path down the air and struck a tree not too far from them. There was a multitude of cracks and screeches before the smell of burning wood reached them soon after. The unstable glow of Sasuke's eyes was more obvious in the darkness now that the sunlight had been blotted out.

"My jutsu aren't only for show."

Gaara took his eyes from the sky raging above them and his expression turned stony, regrettable.

"It is the Kages' sincere wish that both you and Naruto return unharmed," he said. "But like I said before, I don't fear you, Sasuke." Gaara's hand twitched by his side. "If you refuse to cooperate then I will be forced to do what is best for my people. Even if it means destroying you to take Naruto back."

A rush of hot fury suddenly raced up Sasuke's body and his blank expression darkened, something thunderous lining it.

Gaara tensed at the change in the Uchiha's demeanour and moved to lift his hand. The next thing he knew, something decidedly strong had connected with his stomach and he went crashing through the trees behind him, his sand trailing belatedly after. He landed with a grunt and a loud crash in a crater of dirt and fallen wood, coughing a few times as the dust from the impact cleared and his sand danced around him in a weak appearance of trying to comfort him. A shadow growing in size on the ground made him sharply raise his left hand instinctively. Sand went whipping past him and up to meet the Uchiha as the raven fell towards him, katana held out and ready to strike by his side.

"If you are so confident," Sasuke hissed, "then show me how you would defend yourself against the Sharingan."

The plug of the gourd on Gaara's back flew off and his speciality sand began leaking out, scouting out the source of the threat.

"Do not force my hand, Sasuke."

Sasuke sneered in his mind as he watched Gaara retaliate with predominantly his sand. A shinobi may have a so called ultimate technique but it would never last. That had been what Itachi had taught him. At some point a crack in either its execution, positioning or very nature would be exposed and then the entire world would know and manipulate the weakness to their advantage. To survive, a shinobi must be mutable. And unfortunately for Gaara, Sasuke had already cracked his ultimate defense during the Chuunin exams all those years past.

"I see nothing that I haven't seen before," he said dismissively, rising slowly from the crouch that he had landed in after a particularly large mountain of explosive sand had attempted to –almost successfully – smother him. "Show me how much you've_ improved _these past seven years," he commanded.

He could not help but be only a bit impressed when not long later, Gaara eased the mundane repetitiveness of the fight by sending a glittering blue constellation of a dragon at him, the creature large enough to easily swallow him whole. It was a wind element jutsu however and although his chidori would have been snuffed out like a candle, his clan were almost as renowned for their fire jutsu as they were for their eyes. Naruto had thoroughly belted it into him that wind only strengthened fire.

At first it seemed like the fireball he expelled would be overwhelmed. It was so much smaller than Gaara's jutsu. Then he grinned maliciously when two fiery tails of flame burst forth, becoming wings as another flare rose to form the phoenix's neck and head, bright orbs glowing where the eyes should be. If only his father could see him now; that lake that they used to practise on would not even exist anymore. The two roaring jutsu met head on and Gaara was forced to jump from his platform before his own countered jutsu could hit him.

"Susanoo." The godlike creature instantly materialised at his command, coming up from the ground to envelop him in its purple glow.

Gaara could only hold his arms in front of himself in a brace when Susanoo's huge hand came swinging out from the remnants of his failed jutsu to strike him. He was flung up into the air and when he removed his arms, his eyes widened at the sight of Sasuke appearing above him, black hair hanging just in his vision. He recognised the move and it was easy to see that Sasuke was mocking him with attacks that had been developed when he was 12.

His ultimate defence was able to block the first blow of the Shishi Rendan but Sasuke's speed had only improved exponentially since the Chuunin exams. The Uchiha twisted 180 degrees in the air and Gaara felt the kick beneath him nearly shatter his spine. The second landed on his navel and as air whistled past his ears, he knew that he had been knocked a long way. It was no longer forest flying beneath him but rows of houses and streets which were getting gradually closer. Before he could be allowed to twist and land on his feet however, Sasuke tracked him and sent another perfectly aimed kick at the base of his neck. Caught unaware, he crashed straight down into the centre of Tokoyo.

"Your stamina has gotten better." Sasuke leered as Gaara groaned and slowly extracted himself from the end of a long track they'd made in the street. Sasuke had landed lightly on the edge of a nearby rooftop, his katana retrieved and back in its sheath from when Gaara's sand had managed to yank it out of his grasp.

Gaara spat out a mouthful of blood, stumbling a few times as he felt and tested the several cracks that Sasuke had made in a few of his bones. His eyes slid to both sides of the street to see villagers standing all around them, all of them watching the fight with oddly vacant expressions. He turned back to Sasuke whose own lips were curled smugly at the edges. The black tomoes in his eyes had transformed into pinwheels that Gaara was sure Sasuke hadn't had during the fight at the Kage Summit.

"That Sharingan," he said, his right arm clutching the joint between his neck and left shoulder, "To think that you could do something like this without the Juubi."

"So you noticed. You are a fool for entering Tokoyo while knowing that, Gaara," Sasuke replied, tilting his chin down at him from the rooftop. "This entire town is under my genjutsu. You have no chance in my world." More people were appearing in the streets around Gaara from every corner.

"How?"

"Madara's plan intended to use the moon to project his genjutsu over the world." Sasuke turned his head casually to the right and Gaara followed his gaze to see the slopes of the large mountain range that they had been on before. He understood instantly as Sasuke uttered, "These mountains are perfect for projecting a smaller scale genjutsu."

Turning back to the Kazekage, Sasuke tilted his head to the side. Despite the mocking stature Gaara saw nothing in Sasuke's eyes at all. Like everything was just passing before the Uchiha, but not important enough to make a blemish on his thoughts.

"Not that any of this will matter to you," Sasuke said derisively. He turned his cold look upon the villagers, all standing still like puppets waiting for the strings that would bring them to life. The red in his eyes flickered and glowed.

The shinobi standing among the villagers sprang forth and ran towards Gaara. The Kazekage lifted his sand shield to block the kunai that were flung from the dozen or so attackers. The weapons sank uselessly into the sand before sliding slowly to the ground. The Tokoyo shinobi were much slower than Sasuke and none of the attacks were able to get past. Gaara gradually encased himself until he was surrounded by a sphere, and was about to levitate it when the familiar sound of screaming birds reached his ears.

Through it, he could still hear the throng of Tokoyo shinobi milling close around him and trying to penetrate the sand wall with kunai and katana. The sound of chirping grew closer yet the villagers never moved away. His eyes widened and he tried to levitate the sand as quickly as he could with the weight of all the shinobi upon it.

He didn't move fast enough and there were several sickening crunches followed by the heavy splatters of some thick and viscous liquid dripping down upon the ground. He stared in abject horror at the sand in front of him, watching as some of it fell down in chunks from the force of the chidori. He covered one of his own eyes with two fingers as he activated his sand eye outside of the barrier. Slowly, vision came to him.

"You…"

He swallowed, feeling fury for the first time directed at Sasuke. It was not even remotely at Madara or at the twisted circumstances that had led to everything going wrong in the first place. This was all purely because of Sasuke.

"If Naruto could see you now, he'd never have tried so hard to save you," he spat.

Through his sand eye, he watched with a chill as Sasuke pulled his bloody hand from a body that had been in the way of his chidori reaching him. Uncaring of the blood dripping down his arm –nauseatingly red up to his elbow –Sasuke stepped closer to the sand sphere and the floating eye, almost level with it. Despite himself, Gaara moved back from the wall in front of him.

The next thing he knew, he was standing outside the sphere in the place where his sand eye had been. Confusion marred his mind but he quickly displaced it when he saw Sasuke recklessly charging his chidori current again, this time along the length of his kusanagi. Sasuke wasn't looking at him.

"You are a better man than me," Sasuke said hollowly, inspecting his own jutsu with great interest as it grew in size. His eyes darted to the right and sharply bringing his hand up, his elongated kusanagi grew even longer and stabbed through a woman standing some metres away, the smell of her sizzling flesh instantly flooding Gaara's nostrils. She collapsed with a gurgle as the current sent her blood flow haphazardly in the opposite direction, a large amount of it leaving her body through her mouth.

Gaara tried to send his sand to protect the next person that Sasuke aimed for, an older man that was only a civilian. For some reason it refused to heed his command and he watched helplessly as blood spurted from a deep slice across the man's throat, which crackled intermittently as some lightning continued to course through him.

"How can you protect anyone, when you are so _weak_?"

This was a genjutsu, Gaara knew that much. There was no other explanation for why his body felt so weightless, why he could see and vaguely comprehend yet be unable to find and execute the right path of action that should follow.

For however long it was, he could only watch as Sasuke slaughtered strategically, demonstrating a wide variety of ways that he could use his katana and chidori combination to end a life. There was a guilt welling up in Gaara because the nauseousness rising in his throat wasn't so much from grief, but from the selfishness that he identified in himself when he thought of how helpless he was under the present circumstances. Sasuke could do anything at all in this world of his.

He was taken out of it and jerked roughly back to reality when a sharp pain blossomed in his chest, and he craned his neck downwards to see a katana tip going through him. All the blood and bodies around him disappeared, leaving only the red liquid dripping down from the point of the blade through his right lung.

Sasuke watched from behind as Gaara slumped forwards, going out like a baby. He stood stiffly without moving for a moment to confirm that he really was unconscious and then roughly pulled his katana out. Without the blade to anchor his body, Gaara slumped forward a bit more and a small puddle of blood began pooling on the ground beneath his motionless form. Perhaps he had overdone it a bit.

Gaara should just be thankful he was alive.

Sighing, he had a few of the shinobi approach the redhead while he himself went to find Naruto, who would doubtless make him think more carefully about what had just transpired. The village shinobi would heal Gaara for him and after he had implanted a different set of memories in his mind, the Kazekage would be on his way back to Suna, and hopefully out of their lives.

* * *

><p><em>Shishou,<em>

_Gaara never ended up sending the code that he said he would. Something has happened and I'm certain that Sasuke and Naruto are in Tokoyo. _

_Please be careful. I don't know what Sasuke is capable of anymore._

_Sakura._

* * *

><p>Sasuke may have been horribly cruel at times but he was still doubtlessly human, albeit a significantly more hardened individual than most. Personally, he felt that he was justified.<p>

Sometimes, he would acknowledge his humanity with a great regret. He had once tried to turn himself into a weapon. That dark ploy had been cracked open and filled instead by the cathartic, raging forces that were his older brother and best friend. Since then he had resigned himself to the fact that attachment to certain things was unavoidable and almost sure to come with time, but just because they might come didn't mean that he would embrace them with open arms.

He had once forced himself to lock away the memory that he might still, somewhere, have felt love for Itachi, a successful feat up until their final battle brought forth the fleeting image of Itachi's tears behind the blockade in his mind. He had, several times, downright tried to kill Naruto when their relationship threatened his other ambitions, and just look where they were now. And then he had attempted to destroy Konoha, with the result that he vowed never to swear his allegiance to a village ever again.

It wasn't an easy realisation for Sasuke when he asked himself why, against all rational thought, he and Naruto were still in Tokoyo a day after his clash with Gaara.

True to Gaara's words, many more shinobi came to Tokoyo over the next few days. The majority of them were weak however, and Sasuke continued to move freely around under the large genjutsu that had been woven like a dome over the populace. Most of the unwelcome visitors were either nobodies of the shinobi alliance or bounty hunters from the rebel forces, both groups the same as far as Sasuke was concerned and seeking only fame or money for self-gain. Sasuke told himself that the strength of the genjutsu on Gaara would be more than enough to make the Kazekage act in his favour and that soon enough, all of these annoyances would start heading off to some other region that would be breathed lightly from Gaara's lips, almost like an accident.

The first nick in his speculations came with the arrival of a person that he had known only briefly before he left Konoha, but who he was aware that Naruto held a great deal of affection for. The ex-fifth-Hokage and slug princess, Tsunade, wandered into Tokoyo some three days after Gaara had been loaded off and Sasuke retreated into the forest after that, waiting for her to leave Tokoyo when she found nothing. Instead and to his chagrin, she took up quarters at a small inn with no indication that she would be departing anytime soon.

News of the worst kind finally came a few more days after that, when the single Tokoyo shinobi bearing it found Sasuke while he was meditating near the stream at midday. Sasuke sat on the rock and listened listlessly to the report of a sudden increase in the number of Zetsu in the 20 kilometre radius surrounding the town over the past hour, the abominations neither attacking nor moving around but rather, loitering where they had appeared. He only really set the gears of his mind into action after dismissing the man with a careless wave of his hand. He made his decision within minutes and returned to the cave.

"We have to leave. Madara will be arriving soon."

Sasuke lightly touched Naruto's cheek with his fingertips as if seeking permission, lingering there for a scant moment before he moved away and set about making preparations for their departure.

"We're really leaving? What about the villagers?"

The youngest Naruto tugged with a pout on the jacket sleeve of the teenage version, who cast a serious look down at him. The two apparitions watched in silence as Sasuke began collecting the several items that had been scattered around the cave, sealing them one by one into a scroll. Some brushes and ink, a book, some candles and his spare cloak were just a variety of the random collection that he hadn't bothered to put away normally because he used them on an almost daily basis. They were all quickly sealed one by one into successive areas of the long parchment, vanishing with small poofs of smoke between his hands each time.

"There's nothing I can do for them," Sasuke said bluntly when he was finished. He rolled up the filled scroll and pulled the knot tight with his teeth before pushing it carelessly into the back pocket of the black travelling pants that he had changed into. "Madara will see through any genjutsu that I cast over this place."

"Then at least let them know he's coming! They can still escape," the youngest Naruto exclaimed, breaking away from the hand on his shoulder. He spun on the spot to keep his eyes on Sasuke as he swept past him to Naruto's body. "Or better yet, use that sharingan of yours and _make_ them escape right now."

Sasuke sighed impatiently, deftly fastening the sandal buckles around Naruto's ankles before moving back up and lifting the blonde's upper body so that he could pull a long, hooded cloak around him. "That won't work," he replied dismissively, his fingers tugging the two sides of the cloak front together and flicking the clasp at the neck. "The moment they all start to scatter from here my control over them will weaken. I'll lose control altogether not too long after that and when they come to their senses they'll just return here."

"There has to be something we can do! We can't just let them die!"

"Give it up, Naruto. It's either you or them, and you know what my decision is."

"I'd prefer you save them," Naruto retorted stubbornly.

Sasuke now_ glared_ at the 8 year old, mid-reach in gathering the blonde's body up. "Are you telling me," he said in a low voice, "that you would prefer to be captured so that Madara can destroy not only this village, but every other wretched country that he sets his sights on?" He ignored the orange clad blonde that spluttered in protest and focused on the cloaked blonde instead.

He raised the hood up to hide Naruto's bright, blonde hair and then lifted the dormant male completely from the ground, pleasantly surprised that the other was slightly heavier than he had been the last time he carried him. He stood up and went down the steps, letting Naruto's head loll laxly on his own chest so as to avoid possible strain on the neck area. Naruto may have healed quickly in the past but with his chakra sealed, Sasuke had a great suspicion that his current healing ability would be close to nil.

It was at the thought of healing ninjutsu that a person's name suddenly darted across his mind. He hurriedly quashed it but was unable to help the drop in his stomach that told him he was too late and that the damage had been done.

With Naruto's weight comfortable in his arms, he walked past the two apparitions and was prepared to leave when the 12 year old Naruto stiffened suddenly. Sasuke felt the movement behind him and he too, tensed up and regarded him warily.

"Tsunade-baachan…?" Naruto asked curiously, his voice hushed. He turned his head to the cave wall on his right.

Sasuke frowned deeply and knew that the other was concentrating on where Tsunade's chakra signature currently was, pulsing gently in the inn near the residential area at the base of the mountains. He grit his teeth as the young Naruto smiled.

"It _is_ Baachan!"

The ghostly blonde looked at Sasuke with excited, blue eyes that hadn't been seen ever since this whole apparition thing started. Sasuke found himself momentarily caught up in them and his grip on the real Naruto was loosening beneath that gaze. Until the blonde's high pitched voice informed him yet again with unnecessary eagerness, "The old hag's here!"

Indeed she was, and with his eardrums ringing Sasuke gave a growl of frustration at her chakra signature, which was leaving the inn and exploring just a bit too close for comfort. They really did have to leave right now. He would just have to sneak them out without her noticing, and he kept on walking stolidly towards the cave entrance.

"Oh, no you don't bastard!"

The youngest Naruto had disappeared again, leaving only the 12 year old that now stood with a fierce glower between Sasuke and the entrance to the antechamber. Sasuke merely shifted Naruto's body in his arms and returned the other's expression with a displeased one of his own.

"You are not leaving Baachan here to die," the young Naruto hissed at him, his arms held up horizontally next to him to block the entrance.

"Don't be ridiculous. You have no power to stop me in that form," Sasuke scoffed and he made to move around, or if necessary, through the other.

"I will _never_ forgive you if you do!"

The Uchiha halted on the upper step, right next to the blonde spectre that had lowered his arms and was now torturing him with something of a desperate plea in his large eyes. The apparition's hands were wringing themselves like he was longing to grab onto Sasuke instead. Faint disbelief mixed with the annoyance on Sasuke's face.

"Do you know what you're saying? Madara is making his way here _now_."

The 12 year old snapped in reply. "I know what I said. I said that I won't forgive you if you don't save Baachan. But more importantly," he jerked his head in a small motion at the still one in Sasuke's hold, "_he_ will never forgive you."

Sasuke looked down at Naruto's face, staring at the calm features that were in stark contrast to the enraged figure beside him. Then after a long moment he snarled and took long strides back to the steps at the rear of the cave. He managed to put Naruto back down on the stone gently before again stalking like an angry storm to the antechamber.

"Half an hour," he snapped as he walked past the young Naruto. "We are leaving then, whether she leaves or not." Naruto's loud voice echoed after him.

"Then you had better do a darn great job of convincing her bastard!" it called.

Sasuke travelled quickly down the mountainside, encouraged by the extremely unflattering feeling of not knowing exactly how close Madara was to them. Tsunade had left the inn and was also similarly getting closer to him, albeit at a slower pace and with several tangents into other streets along the way. Impatient, Sasuke sent out a small blast of chakra and as expected, her movement froze for a second before she began racing rapidly towards him.

They met somewhere at the base of the mountains. The first visual sign of the woman came when Sasuke was forced to drop from the branch that he had been intending to land on and instead twist in the air to land on the sloping ground below. He looked up just in time to see a yellow and green flash flicker past the space that he had been in and go crashing into the tree upstream, splitting the trunk with a huge _crack_ and sending wood chips and dust into the air. The air whistled and glowed green through the haze with the force behind the fifth Hokage's punch and if it weren't for his reflexes, Sasuke was sure that the blow would have incapacitated him for months, if not permanently. The woman jumped from her own branch and landed across from Sasuke, her back to him.

"Uchiha…" Tsunade turned around slowly, the green glow receding from her hands as she pinned Sasuke with a pair of furious amber eyes. "What the _fuck_ do you think you're doing here?" she barked out.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the unexpected greeting. He had been expecting something demanding from the woman but it had been more along the lines of what Gaara had wanted from him. He always had had a sneaking suspicion that the blonde woman was slightly strange.

"_We_," he uttered slowly and carefully, lifting his hand magnanimously, "were leaving."

"Leaving, he says," the woman muttered under her breath, running a hand through her hair as she looked up at the tree tops with exasperation. "For God's sake, they say you're a genius. I never thought that you would be this stupid. It must be Naruto's doing."

Sasuke remained silent as he processed the rather surreal circumstances that had led to his long abandoned Hokage insulting him like a displeased teacher with an infamous delinquent. He concluded that it was Naruto's fault for not letting them just get out of there. He knew that the blonde idiot attracted people like an addiction. If it had been anyone other than Tsunade, whom Sasuke figured Naruto viewed as something of a motherly figure, he would have just ignored the guilt-tripping Naruto's and been out of there already.

"You're really here in Tokoyo."

The woman had continued ranting during Sasuke's temporary lapse to scold Naruto in his mind and in that time, she had left a sizeable dent in the ground from her relentless pacing. It was rather impressive that she could keep her chakra flowing so effortlessly and without care for its waste. He was getting sidetracked and he tuned back into her lecturing only to hear, "You really sealed Itachi _mere miles away from your hiding place?_"

He rolled his eyes and the woman exploded.

"Why didn't you leave straightaway! You fool! Madara is on his way here for Naruto right now!" Her eyes darted to Sasuke's side and behind him, as if noticing Naruto's absence for the first time. "Where is Naruto?" she demanded.

"Look," Sasuke snapped, his patience worn thin. He had never taken well to criticism, another thing that he'd have to thank Itachi and his father for. "I have managed to keep Naruto away from Madara for the past 7 years. I intend to continue doing just that. I don't know what it is you're expecting, but I have no reason to trust you or listen to anything you have to say. We wouldn't even be having this nice little chat if it wasn't for Naruto."

"What?"

"Naruto refuses to leave unless he knows you're safe," he grunted begrudgingly, not wanting her to labour under the disillusion that he personally had any care for her safety at all. Tsunade appeared confused.

"He's unsealed?"

"…No." Sasuke rubbed his brow with his fingers, not wanting to go into an explanation of his less than sightly habits when it came to Naruto. "He's still sealed."

Tsunade looked concerned and Sasuke was sure that as a medical ninja, she was already shrewdly considering the possibility that he might not be completely sane.

"I'm not going to waste anymore time talking to you," he exhaled bluntly as her mouth opened and he dropped his hand from his face. "I only came to tell you this. I want you out of this town, now. If you value your life then you'll leave. There's no point in you staying here anyhow, since you know that me and Naruto won't be here for much longer." He turned around, cloaking his chakra so that she wouldn't be able to follow him.

"Wait!" Tsunade stepped forward quickly. "Take me to Naruto," she said.

"The two of us will leave alone," Sasuke said instantly. He turned his head and looked at her warningly, daring her to try and follow. "I don't trust you."

"Just…" Tsunade sighed. "Sasuke, let me see him. Please?" Sasuke would not be convinced.

"The alliance wants the Kyuubi as their own," he accused. "You may not be the Hokage anymore but your loyalties lie with your village, as they always have." Tsunade winced at the veiled reference to her decision to kill Naruto rather than let Madara gain control, and Sasuke relished sadistically in the guilt that he inflicted.

"I'm not giving your people another chance," he said coldly, and his eyes took on an unstable glint. "Everyone important to me has been destroyed by Konoha. I would never raise a finger to help them, even if they begged me."

"Sasuke, if I knew that there was another option I would have leapt on it," Tsuande said, trying to console him. "As things are, I regret allowing the order back then." She gestured around them. "If I had trusted Naruto more, perhaps the world wouldn't be where it is today."

"And now? Now that there's no going back, I suppose you're just going to continue with the original plan?" Sasuke's voice slowly raised in volume with his anger at what they had almost done. They had almost sentenced Naruto to the same punishment that Konoha had bequeathed upon his entire clan. "You'll just lock him up somewhere and kill him if Madara ever gets too close again! All for the so called 'greater good!'" he sneered.

"You know nothing about—"

"I don't want to hear it," he snarled. "Accept the reality that no one else can keep Naruto safe like I can. Not a single one of your people would be willing to sacrifice hundreds of lives for him like I can. Only I can do that," his lips twisted deprecatingly, "because I don't care about the greater good like the rest of you."

Tsunade lashed out suddenly in retaliation. "You don't know _what_ I felt when I heard that Naruto had disappeared! Uchiha, you are not the only person who cares about him, although I would have once thought that you would be the last!" she spat. Realising her loss of composure, she took several deep breaths to calm herself as Sasuke remained unperturbed.

She shook her head and looked at Sasuke with a grimace, her own amber gaze suddenly desperate as she tried to plead her sincerity. "The moment Inoichi told me that you and Naruto were gone, I knew that I was no longer fit to be Hokage. I was on your side ever since you took Naruto away. I can no longer serve the interests of the alliance. Sasuke, please. I'm only asking to see him, nothing more."

Sasuke's better judgement told him that the woman was speaking the truth. However, absolutely nothing would convince him to let anyone travel with him and Naruto. In his eyes she was a potential liability and he voiced these thoughts cruelly to her. For a moment, Tsunade looked shattered at the accusation that she was of absolutely no use in protecting one of her most precious people and she appeared ready to argue. But beneath Sasuke's resolute, hardened glare and the urgency that called for the other two to leave Tokoyo immediately, she resigned their silent battle in disappointment.

"Then go," she said tiredly. As Sasuke made to open his mouth she interrupted, "I'll be leaving soon too, now that there's nothing left for me here. Just keep that brat safe. But," she took a scroll from the small pack that she wore around her waist and held it out to Sasuke, "at least take this. I found it in the Whirlpool country."

Sasuke tensed and she continued, "I know that you were there before me, don't try telling me otherwise. You've probably already figured out how to unseal Naruto." She lifted the scroll, a very old one with curled, browning edges. "This scroll contains some jutsu that I found while I was there," she explained. "I used a specific one to get here from Whirlpool. It is similar to the fourth Hokage's Thunder God technique and will allow you two to escape quickly."

"…Thank you." Sasuke took the scroll, neglecting to tell her that most of the jutsus from the Whirlpool country were only workable by people of the Uzumaki bloodline. Tsunade nodded, hand lowering back to her side.

"I don't care what you say," she said defiantly, "but the next time we meet, you _will_ let me see Naruto." She took a step back, letting him go, and Sasuke knew that only the threat of Madara appearing at any moment was making her so agreeable.

He smirked and shook his head at the ground before he jumped backwards and up into the trees. "Perhaps," he called back mockingly. He gave her one last arrogant glance before he disappeared.

Tsunade stared wistfully at the branch that he had been on before she turned and walked back into the town.

* * *

><p>Only you can save me and Toto from the Wicked Witch of the East! Please! Drop reviews on her head!<p>

Until next time :)


	4. Chapter 3

Thank you so much to **Piro **(x3? o.0 You flatter me, sorry for making you wait!),** Mistralle, operagirl76, SUPERANON, Rosebunse, ovicati** (x2, thanks for coming back to let me know),** TaeMint, dazedeyes, Melikalilly, gummybear1620, Hyouhaku, Fireotaku18, Voere, Protozoa, kiki2222** for reviewing on the last chapter! I really do appreciate all of the feedback.

**Disclaimer: **I suffer from Drama-Queen Syndrome. So does Naruto, but only because I made him that way.

…

So maybe Kishimoto was the one that made him that way. Naruto belongs to Kishimoto and Sasuke.

**Warnings:** There will be BL (gradually), character deaths (it's a fact of life sadly), and drama (definitely plenty of that...*sprinkles every chapter*).

* * *

><p><strong>Beyond War<strong>

By Om0cha

_**Chapter Three: The Healer's Treachery**_

The clouds had been steadily brewing ever since Sasuke parted ways with Tsunade. At first they were but mere dabs of innocent grey above him, just a cloudier day than normal and nothing to indicate that anything special was about to happen. Before long however, streaks of black had snuck across and eagerly smeared the entire sky, shadowing the path up the mountain and making it extremely treacherous for any normal human to scale. What had been the occasional cold breeze that nudged at his elbows as he made his way back to the cave had become a drizzling rain in the short time before he was standing with Naruto on his back in front of Tokoyo's gates, the both of them garbled in their long cloaks that were thankfully waterproof and warm.

Sasuke felt Tsunade's chakra still within the town's walls behind them but he brushed it aside. She had given him her word and he would take it at face value, if only because he trusted her slightly more than he did Gaara. He examined the horizon stretching out to the East before him. The land and sky was blurred with grey tones at the middle. The rain could not have come at a better time and he smirked despite the icy water that trickled in rivulets down his face. It was ironic. Madara –the man with the most powerful eyes in existence – had not been able to correct a major flaw in his Zetsu army's vision. The creatures depended largely upon their superior smell and chakra sensory. They were almost blind in this weather to all but a person standing point-blank in front of them.

He turned left to look over his shoulder, where Naruto's head was resting with his hood pulled down to his eyebrows. He actively searched for the miniscule, ghosting puff of air on his neck and he found it with the appreciation of an expert. His eyes slid behind the blonde and he took one last glance at Tokoyo and its tall wooden fences before he lowered his head beneath his own hood and turned around, trudging through the quickly forming mud.

_This was his home for 7 years_.

His lips thinned bitterly at the ground and the pattering of falling rain became louder.

_It'll be gone tomorrow and he'll never have known it._

It was just another memory that he would have but which Naruto wouldn't. Another memory to remind him of the differences in the time that they were living.

He increased his pace once they were over the first hill and the gates of Tokoyo were no longer visible. He estimated that the genjutsu on them had an hour left, which should be sufficient time to get well away from the Zetsu if he kept at his current speed.

Under normal circumstances he would have just cast a genjutsu upon himself and walked calmly by the barrier of Zetsu without concern. But Naruto was with him this time, and a genjutsu projected to cover the both of them required significantly more chakra. There was a huge chance that the Zetsu would detect and identify the large amount of chakra preceding the genjutsu as his and raise the alarm before they were actually put under the lure of his eyes. To avoid that happening, he used one of the Tokoyo shinobi to cast the genjutsu upon them and suppressed his own chakra. The Zetsu would not sense him; they would feel only the weaker signal of a near-chakraless villager as they passed each other.

They entered the closest forest without incidence. The nearest Zetsu were a measly half a mile away from them when they infiltrated their lines but hadn't bothered to investigate the seemingly weak individual. Sasuke was sure that the group would be severely punished once Madara realised that he had yet again failed to attain the nine-tails.

Safe under the cover of twisting branches and foliage so thick that even the rain couldn't penetrate it, Sasuke felt the telltale tingle of the genjutsu slipping away. He shifted Naruto upon his back and tightened his fingers beneath the other's thighs as he kept on running. The place that he had in mind to become their next conquest was the abandoned residence of a bloodline limit clan that had been wiped out decades ago. They would stay there until Madara's rage had blown over. It would take around four days journey if he kept up this pace. He would have to be alert at all times.

They were fair game now.

He pushed himself without stopping day or night for the next three days, keeping at his speed until at least five countries were between them and Tokoyo. He was occasionally forced to change his course every now and again when somebody was nearby. He had been tempted to rest in the tea country, with its infinite fields of tall, lush green plants that were easy to take cover amongst, but it was a risk since they had had a mission there in the past as Genin. Sasuke knew that shinobi had scoured many of the locations that they had gone to back when they were younger.

A day's travel away from their destination he finally allowed himself to take a break. He veered off the path and towards a bubbling brook that he could hear after making sure that there was no one around. At the water's edge he removed Naruto's cloak and lay the blonde upright against the base of a tree on the shore before removing his own boots and stripping down to his pants. He washed the mud from his clothes and Naruto's cloak in the shallows, leaving them on the grass to dry before he waded out into the flowing, waist-deep water. The water was invigoratingly cold against his skin in the morning chill and he submerged himself fully a few times to clear out all of the grainy muck that had collected in his hair. Slowly, he felt his tensed muscles loosening beneath the soothing liquid. Once he felt more refreshed he dipped a clean piece of cloth into the water and went back to Naruto with it.

With light strokes, he wiped away the small amount of dirt that had managed to get past the hood and onto Naruto's skin and hair. He ran his fingers through the blonde locks a few times to untangle them before reaching around to undo the red twine tying the longer hair into a ponytail at Naruto's neck. He untangled the locks there too, pulling his fingers leisurely down the soft, golden expanse that had been freed. While retying the twine he shifted himself and Naruto so that he could sit against the tree trunk with Naruto in front of him, his body twisted with one leg settled casually on Naruto's left. When he was done he pulled Naruto back against his chest and wrapped his arms around the blonde, letting Naruto's head fall back naturally against his collarbone.

In that position, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to slip into a very shallow sleep. Mostly awake, but with shadows of strange thoughts and dreams starting to occupy his mind and threatening to drag him under. He swore that there was movement in his arms, loud laughter in his ears, brilliant blue that flooded his vision when he opened his eyes…

Not a second past an hour later his eyes snapped open. He looked down at Naruto, still sealed and slack against him, and pressed the bottom of his chin against the blonde's head for a moment, his grip tightening. He pulled himself up and rested Naruto back against the tree while he retrieved their dry clothes.

The remainder of the journey to the abandoned district went by uninhibited and relaxedly. Most of the travel was through a large forest that formed a border between two countries and so was very rarely visited by shinobi, for peace and diplomacy reasons. The district itself was located at the end of the forest, sheltered by the overhanging branches of giant, ancient buttress trees. When they finally arrived it was night and he leapt over the stone walls without bothering with the gates.

Within the borders it was much like what the Uchiha district back in Konoha had been. The houses were traditional, the streets were paved with stones marked with clan designs, and the typical fung-shui trees had been allowed to overgrow the place. There was an aura that spoke of what had once been a prestigious clan. Unlike in the Uchiha district however, much of this district had fallen into ruin. It had obviously been deserted for much longer and particularly near the entrance where the wind was stronger, the delicate paper covering the windows and door panels was tattered and leaves and debris had blown through the buildings. A lonely silence reigned over everything.

He chose a large house near the heart of the district to become their living quarters. It was in a much better condition than most of the other buildings because of the sheltered location that it was situated in. Fifty metres above it, the intertwining buttress branches were so thick that only cracks of light would penetrate through to light up the house during the day. The inside of the house was rather complicated, with many intricately painted sliding doors and rooms that could be connected to each other in a multitude of different ways. Sasuke took them well into the house and to a room from which candlelight would not escape before he was satisfied.

In the pitch darkness he lowered Naruto onto the thankfully still-existent tatami mats. He took off the blonde's cloak and shoes and put them to the side. He was wary of the cold making Naruto sick however –which had never been a worry in the cave in Tokoyo— and so he released two thick duvets from a scroll and pulled one of these up to the blonde's shoulders. Only when he had settled Naruto into their new dwelling did he light a single candle and tiredly deactivate his sharingan.

He sat back against the painted wall with the other duvet covering his crossed legs. His eyes were fixed on Naruto's face and the way the light threw long shadows across it, accentuated by his nose and eyelashes. His mind automatically tried to fill the silence but he fought against it. If he allowed himself to think then his mind would begin wandering. He would notice nagging, important things like how there just didn't seem to be an opportune moment to unseal Naruto, and then unimportant things like how he hadn't eaten in 4 days and would need to find something other than soldier pills tomorrow.

He lowered his chin and in a house that reminded him of the one his parents had been killed in, he discarded these thoughts and slept restlessly.

* * *

><p>The way back to Konoha was long and tiring. Not for the first time in 5 years, Tsunade felt a deep yearning to just be able to see and trudge through those huge gates and back into civilisation. The time she had spent in populated towns or villages had been sadly lacking ever since she left.<p>

She had exited Gaara's lands a couple of hours before and the change in scenery was almost dramatic. Her circumstances went from sweating in the sweltering desert to focusing on not getting lost in this forest of leafless, black trees, gloomily depressing at night and without a sliver of greenery in sight. She had considered stopping until morning but there didn't seem to be any caves around, and rather than shiver her way through her sleep on an uncomfortable tree branch, she figured she may as well keep on going by moonlight and sooner return to a warm mattress. She salivated a little at the thought.

She had missed Konoha indeed.

When she first stood aside 7 years ago for Kakashi she hadn't yet been fully decided on leaving. Shizune was gone and if she were to depart then it would be a lonely path, and Sakura was meant for much greater things than being her assistant on a journey with no end in sight. Instead, for one and a half years she stayed and advised Kakashi, teaching him what she could –it was rather unfortunate that he picked up on her lazy habits as well— while enduring the infuriating criticisms of the daimyos as she did. Eventually, she had gotten sick of them and taken a leaf out of Jiraiya's book after she felt that Kakashi was prepared well enough.

She could say without remorse that she hated those old cranks. Her blood never failed to churn at those fancily dressed men that thought the war could be solved by throwing money at it. The council were close runner-ups for that special position in her heart— the blacker side of it, that was. If she were a bit more vengeful she would have let them try to implement their grand plans and then cheerfully picked up their corpses for them afterwards. They failed to realise that Madara could no longer be considered a mere human. He was not restricted by such trivial human necessities as economic need. It was why negotiating a resolution with him was impossible. The bargaining skills which every Kage had trained right down to a tee were useless. War _was_ the only option, and it just so happened to be the only thing that Madara wanted. It had ceased for now but no doubt Madara would strike it up again the moment Naruto's location had been pinpointed. The sooner the world was rid of that madman, the sooner they could focus on what was truly important – the future. It was incomprehensible how one man could bring the world to a standstill.

Yet sadly, it _was_ possible and warily, Tsunade came to a screeching halt in the dirt now.

A plume of the upset dirt blew around her legs and her eyes searched the darkness all around her, blonde pigtails whipping across her neck. In her years of being alone in her travels, the very _feeling_ of solitariness had burnt itself into her body. She had wondered with a great sadness whether Jiraiya, a hermit since his own departure, had also found it natural. Her life was filled with regrets. She should have never let him go. Now, being alone was such an inherent feeling for her that being surrounded by people sent her senses into overload.

It might not have been more than one person, but she still smelt a rat invading her space.

"Show yourself," she barked impatiently, much too cold and grouchy to entertain a game of cat and mouse.

Her eyes darted over the bare trees. They were far too thin for anyone to hide behind. The forest seemed more silent than it had been a few seconds ago. Her instincts filled in the gaps for her and she jumped away as she correctly guessed the mystery person's hiding place. A huge, reptilian, hissing head burst with a large bang from the ground that had been beneath her feet and snapped at the air, its fangs dripping with yellow venom that flew everywhere with the dry dirt as she slid to a landing on her feet some metres away. The serpent pulled the rest of itself lethargically from the huge hole that it had made in the ground and Tsunade instantly knew who was behind this ambush.

She had almost forgotten about that one other particular madman.

"Kabuto," she hissed in displeasure, craning her face up to see the rearing snake.

The young, grey haired male was standing upon the giant creature's head and leering down at her with a grin full of sharpened teeth, his features illuminated by the moonlight. The hallowed youth looked very different to the last time that she had seen him. There was, in particular, a certain insane gleam to his slitted eyes that reminded her of Orochimaru after his fall into darkness. The man was scaly from his neck down to his fingers and nauseatingly, Tsunade glimpsed a long, white snake's tale protruding out from beneath the back of his cloak.

_A chimera. He has turned himself into a chimera._

"You've becomes as twisted as your master," she said in disgust. If things had been a little different, Kabuto could have ended up as one of the greatest medic-nins of his generation together with Shizune and Sakura. As it was, she had no doubt that his specialised medical knowledge had been put to all the wrong uses to create his current mutated form.

"We meet again, Tsunade-sama," Kabuto called down. The honorific was mockingly attached with a contempt that Tsunade whole-heartedly shared.

"Cut the crap," she snapped, preparing herself to fight. "I don't believe that you'd be here by coincidence. Did Madara send you?"

Kabuto jumped off the snake's head and it disappeared with a deafening explosion equivalent to its size as he landed on the ground closer to her.

"Madara is quite furious at the moment," he commented with the air of a man discussing the weather. "You took away not only his victory, but the consolation prize as well." He smirked here. Obviously, he did not share Madara's irritation. "However, I'm not interested in his little tantrums. I am here of my own free will."

Tsunade regarded him suspiciously. Secretly, she began pushing chakra into her right hand, the green glow hopefully hidden behind the wide edges of her vest. She vindictively made sure that it was enough to knock him straight over the trees and out of the woods if he pushed it.

"Regrettably, I need your…assistance," Kabuto said.

Tsunade frowned, her shrewd eyes never leaving the other and the way he seemed to sway perpetually on the spot like the upper body of serpent. She had been tempted by Orochimaru's offer once before and had almost made a terrible mistake as a result. As his apprentice Kabuto could not be after anything any less unsavoury.

"Becoming ambitious?" she asked loudly, testing his intentions. "Have Madara's plans for world domination wiped off onto you?"

Kabuto chuckled and his white tail swayed side to side across the dead leaves canvassing the forest floor.

"No, that's not it," he assured her. "Mine and Madara's goals have…diverged. We are partners only so long as he can help me to reach my own goal. It seems though that lately he has lost sight of his side of the bargain."

"And what bargain would that be?"

Tsunade made a mental note that the ranks of the enemy were even more discordant than they previously believed. Across from her, Kabuto's lips spread wide again on his face, the bone structure of which had deformed into a snout-like appearance. A sharp-tipped tongue flicked out to lick his lips.

"Tsunade-sama," he slurred, "As a medic-nin that was once more superior than myself, what would you say is every healer's darkest dream?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. Kabuto's grin widened at her silent declination to answer.

"Every healer wants to conquer sickness, injury…death. Is that not the case?" he suggested.

"You want to become immortal," Tsunade deduced with a wry smile. "I told Orochimaru this when he asked me the same question years ago and I have no worries about shattering any fantasies that you might have now - It is impossible."

"And Madara?" Kabuto asked in amusement.

"A monster," she hissed. "He will die eventually and it will be exactly what he deserves."

"Now, now," Kabuto's scaly hand came up defensively from beneath his sleeves. "I remember that you were once tempted to bring back that man, Dan, wasn' it? You didn't seem to mind making _him_ a monster at the time."

"Some of us learn from our mistakes," she replied grimly, then added pointedly, "and some of us keep on making the same ones."

"So perhaps the edo-tensei is an incomplete jutsu," here, Kabuto shrugged offhandedly, "but with our combined knowledge we could perfect it." His eyes gleamed hungrily in the shadows at this prospect and the moonlight glinted wetly from his unnaturally large pupils.

"Not on your life," Tsunade growled out.

Kabuto's smirk didn't go anywhere.

"Fine," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. He looked away from her. "I didn't expect you to agree anyway. How about you just tell me where Sasuke-kun's run off to instead?"

"Are you still trying to avenge your master?" she sneered. "I'm afraid that you'd just be walking to your death."

"Actually," Kabuto watched her with sadistic anticipation, "I'm more interested in his little pet this time around."

His yellow eyes lighted up gleefully as Tsunade froze and her expression reformed into a combination of anger and shock.

"I thought you said that you weren't interested in Madara's plans," she said, gritting her teeth and forcing herself to think levelly. She couldn't help the feeling that she was missing something vitally important.

"I'm not," Kabuto answered flippantly. "I don't want the Kyuubi, although it does make for a tempting bonus."

"Then why are you looking for them?"

Kabuto appeared to have been waiting for her to ask this question. From the insane expression on his face, it seemed as though he thought he already held the entire world in the palm of his hands.

"For i_mmortality_, of course," he said loudly, sounding as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Orochimaru-sama, although he was brilliant and made huge progress in that direction, got one thing wrong."

And Tsunade thought that she could see where this was going, but it was _impossible_.

"The key to eternal life lies not with the Uchiha clan's Sharingan," Kabuto said silkily, "but with the Uzumaki clan, a bloodline that had already unlocked the secrets of longevity. And considering Naruto's ability to house the Kyuubi, I have no doubt that he's inherited more than a few of those qualities."

Ice dropped into Tsunade's veins. It wasn't hard to see where Kabuto had gotten his delusions. The Uzumaki clan was a race that had lived like gods within their island city, seemingly untouchable and separated from the rest of the mortal world. Their jutsus both inspired and kept the world in fear, both kept them away and drew them in. But in the end they had been destroyed, infallible proof of their mortality.

"Orochimaru-sama picked the wrong child," Kabuto continued, "but I will correct his mistake and continue his work. I will go further than either of you –and even the Uzumaki clan— ever did."

"You're dreaming," Tsunade retorted bluntly, now extremely uneasy about the psyche of the man before her. "There is no such thing as true immortality."

She knew that the elder Chiyo of Suna had come very close to the area by creating a forbidden resurrection jutsu, but like hell she was going to tell this man that. Suna would be attacked before sunrise. She didn't need him getting any more ideas. Kabuto shook his head as if pitying her.

"Their clan was too afraid to go beyond that void and see what they could achieve on the other side," he said testily, as if to a child. "If they had then who knows what they could have become." He sighed heavily, breath condensing in the air that had grown colder with the descent into true night. "I'm disappointed that you stopped your own research into the subject all those years ago. It would have saved me a lot of energy but I'm ready to test my own theory now. All I'm missing is the Kyuubi brat."

"You'll stay away from the both of them!" Tsunade snarled and her eyes flashed. She brought her glowing right fist up in an arch as she materialised above the grey haired man, long green vest and pigtails flying in the air behind her. The moon silhouetted her clearly and Kabuto watched her dark, falling form calmly.

"Tsunade-sama," he leered as she grew closer. His sharp teeth glinted. "You _will_ help me."

* * *

><p>Around every two days Sasuke went into the nearest village for an hour, a nameless, small place 20 minutes away from the district. It's occupants were largely merchants for travellers who, other than for the purposes of their trading, were otherwise uncaring of the scuffles of the outside world. Sasuke replenished his weapons supply there –plenty of his favourite demon wind shuriken and flammable wire – with gold slipped from the pockets of people on the streets, and sometimes used the leftover money to eat before going back.<p>

One day while he was sitting by himself in one of the few food establishments in the village, a small glass of sake in hand to wash down his meal –he had first acquired the habit out of sheer boredom for something new— two shinobi ducked in under the entrance cloth hangings and took up seats at a table half the restaurant away. Sasuke continued to sip his sake beneath his genjutsu but began paying more attention to their voices when he caught wind of their discussion topic.

"—glad I didn't live anywhere near there."

His ears pricked and he swivelled casually on the bench to survey the men.

"You're lucky," one of the men informed the other after the waitress that took their order had left. "My village wasn't too far away. I told my family to leave. It was a miracle so few people died." His companion nodded.

"Yeah. And it's all thanks to the Godaime Hokage. I never really thought much of her before."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as the man with cropped brown hair beneath a hitai ate he didn't recognise raised his glass and the other man met it with a dull _clink_ of his own.

"May she rest in peace."

The man had tilted his neck back and was about to take a long draw from his glass when a cloaked figure sat down at the table with them.

"Hey, what –"

"Was the Godaime Hokage killed by Madara?"

"…"

Sasuke lifted his bowed head to take a sip from his glass, just enough for both men to glimpse the glowing red underneath the edge of his hood. The rest of the occupants of the restaurant continued chattering and eating around them. They looked only like a group of travellers having a chance meeting and casual conversation to follow. The eyes of the two men clouded over as everything else seemed to fade away into the distance.

"No. They don't think that it was that guy."

"By 'they' you mean Konoha?"

"Yes."

"Who killed her?"

"No one knows," crew-cut mumbled. "After she convinced everyone in the North-West of the Lightning country to flee she just disappeared. Next thing we know there's Konoha shinobi swarming everywhere and she's found dead on the route to Konoha."

"Where?"

They told him an approximate location and Sasuke closed his eyes with a deep breath. Coldness had settled into the base of his stomach and he stood up and left the establishment.

"I don't believe it."

"I knew you would say that."

Sasuke couldn't see where Naruto's voice was coming from in the bright daylight, but he fancied that it was issuing from the blonde that was currently on the tatami next to him as he sat there storing some new weapons into his wristband seals. His ears traitorously advised him however that it was more like somewhere near the back corner of the room.

"You…you don't believe she's gone…right?"

Sasuke's lips thinned and he exhaled heavily through his nose as another shuriken disappeared from beneath his fingers.

"I don't know, Naruto. I don't know who else could kill her."

"Baachan's old but she isn't one of the legendary sannin for nothing, you know. She can defend herself just fine."

_And yet the other two sannin are both dead_, Sasuke thought darkly without voicing it.

He knew that Tsunade was powerful. The woman also had that impressive regeneration seal that was like a one-off version of Naruto's healing capabilities when the Kyuubi interfered. But there were many other stronger people in the world, and he also didn't dismiss the possibility that some formidable enemies unknown to him had sprung up sometime between the end of the war and now.

"I won't believe rumours," Naruto's voice echoed firmly in the room.

Sasuke didn't answer, but in the deep recesses of his mind he thought he already knew the truth.

The next day he travelled out further to other villages to gather more information.

He was unpleasantly surprised and unnerved to find out in the very first shoddy bar he went to that Tokoyo had become famous overnight. It seemed that it was all that every pub and alley was talking about. What he managed to glean for sure as he meandered inconspicuously in the throngs of alcohol drowned men was that Madara had burnt Tokoyo and several other surrounding villages to the ground. The flames were still burning now and it would take some time before a proficient sealer would dare to go and free the village graveyards of the amaterasu curse. However, it had been confirmed with equal certainty that the casualty rate was unexpectedly low. It was said from many different voices that Tsunade's role in the affair had been to successfully urge the villagers to flee, and Sasuke acknowledged with respect that the feat was something only a scant handful of people he knew could have achieved.

There were also some other, more extravagant tales that he came across, shouted across the premises as he lounged on a stool at the bar and which he took with a teaspoon of common sense. Men with their bellies bulging with the drinks paid for by eager listeners recounted how monsters had come crawling down the mountains with Madara's rage, how the streams and sky had turned red as if contaminated and how zombie-like villagers had trudged, covered with blood and guts, from their ransacked homes. Sasuke snorted into his drink at the account that saw Madara run screaming and enraged from the vicinity with his mask hanging off the side of his face. Let it never be said that Team 7 had had vivid imaginations when it came to what lay underneath Kakashi's mask, because a mummified face with blue lips and no nose must definitely take the cake.

However, the temporary comic relief gave way soon enough to a level mourning, especially amongst those whom he identified to be passerbys on their way to Konoha for some kind of ceremony for the late Hokage. He knew after hearing that that Tsunade was definitely dead. No one would attempt to make the perilous journey to Konoha without extremely good reason.

He wasn't sure what he felt. He didn't care about Tsunade in the way that Naruto did but he suspected that she had conversely been genuinely concerned about him, if only a little. And then there was the meek voice in his head that quailed at his failure to ensure that Naruto's precious baachan survived, at least until the blonde was amongst the living again. Although he had commanded her to leave and she hadn't been killed in Tokoyo, the events were definitely linked in his mind and he wondered if there was something more that he could have done to prevent her death. Confused at the belligerent route his mind was taking, he stayed at that bar for longer than he had planned to as he brooded.

He left around an hour later when bets on his and Naruto's whereabouts were naturally brought up, and a loud shout of "they could be in your village next!" reached his ears. The talk was becoming quite heated. Sasuke glared at one thoroughly wasted man with a full jug of beer still waiting for him when he began spouting about the wretched Uchiha family and Naruto. His family he could understand, somewhat. One only had to look as far as Madara to empathise. But Sasuke drew the very short line at where the drunkard started encouraging wild theories about his and Naruto's relationship. He did not take well to being painted as a manipulative and ambitious kidnapper whose intentions ranged from seeking more power to the disgustingly perverse.

The man collapsed face-first onto the table as the heavy wooden door closed behind Sasuke. To anyone else it would appear that he had downed one too many drinks. They would be unpleasantly surprised when they discovered that he couldn't be awoken in the morning.

* * *

><p>Sakura kneeled down and lay the large wreath of white chysanthemum flowers gently in front of Tsunade's grave. She lifted a hand and tentatively touched the simple wooden cross, forcing back a choked sob before she stood up and took a step away from the final resting place of the Godaime Hokage. Sai leant against a tree far behind her to give her some privacy while simultaneously keeping a sharp lookout for potential threats.<p>

"Shishou," Sakura whispered bitterly to the air. "I miss you."

She shook her head quickly and pulled off her glove, rubbing furiously at her eyes with her hand to get rid of the dampness that had suddenly collected at the edges. When that didn't stop the flow she blinked rapidly and tilted her head upwards, biting her bottom lip and looking around at anything but the lonely grave in a bid to distract herself from the memories.

In her mind's eye she saw the first time that she had met Tsunade and witnessed how she could help the two teammates that she herself could never do anything for. At that moment, she had been blinded by a deep feeling of inferiority before this amazing woman, and it was obvious that the other had not really noticed the silent, self-absorbed girl that stood in the corner of the hospital room. The deep bond between them had only started months later when through a stroke of inspiration, she had entered Tsunade's office and demonstrated that she was just as strong-willed as the boys by asking to become her apprentice. Years and years of almost daily interaction after that and until Tsunade's departure had fortified that bond. For Sakura, Tsunade was not only an idol. She had become an important part of both her mind and soul, through both her shinobi teachings and her motherly nurturing.

Sakura's eyes blurred as she took in the surroundings, her lips parted slightly. The forest they were in was a typical scene from the wilderness. The trees were bare but for the thick vines that twisted up their trunks and hung from their branches. The ground was covered with the decaying leaves of the last Fall. Seeing them, Sakura knew that the dead forest would come alive again when Spring came. It would probably be a quickly blooming forest, one that would only last a few transient months before dying again. Tsunade's grave would be covered by grass and flowers, almost hidden from sight as it became a part of nature for those few months. Sakura smiled sadly and looked at the grave again.

"You wouldn't have it any other way, would you?"

She had fought fiercely against having Tsunade's body exhumed and transported back to Konoha. She knew her master well enough to be sure that she wouldn't want her final resting place to be in the crypt where all previous Hokages were moved to. Tsunade would have wanted her grave to be free to the wind, wild and world, just like Jiraiya's was. Not trapped within stone walls as decided by the Council. Sakura smiled sadly, a chuckle caught in her throat. The current arrangement was like her shishou's final rebellious spit in the Council's face.

She had been free for 5 years. She wasn't about to go back to a prison after death.

When Tsunade left Konoha Sakura had always known that there was a chance the blonde woman would never return. There was even a whimpering part of her heart that had told her that Tsunade was _looking_ to die doing something important like Jiraiya had. It had almost made her revert to her genin self, unable to do anything but wail and whine for the other to change her mind. She knew now that it had been selfishness speaking. She let out a long breath and bowed three times to the master that would always, always remain with her.

The era of the legendary sannin was finally over.

Orochimaru had perished on his quest for immortality.

Jiraiya on his quest for peace.

And Tsunade…

_Shishou, what did you find in the end? _Sakura wondered, and the wind blew and ruffled her pink hair, as if trying desperately to tell her something.

She brushed her hair away from her face with her fingers and cast a glance over at Sai, who lazily made a 'go on' motion with one hand, letting her take her time. She smiled gratefully at him. The black haired boy had officially grown out of the title of 'Sasuke's replacement' and was now truly a personality in his own right. She hadn't seen one of those wretched guidebooks in his hands for years. Although he had been ordered to 'supervise' her for this journey, he was on Sakura's side moreso than on his superior's. His will was stronger than it had ever been.

Sai watched as Sakura smilingly began speaking out loud to Tsunade, but he noted clearly that it didn't reach her eyes. He knew that she would take awhile to recover from this blow and he could only hope that the process wouldn't take as long as it did when Sasuke and Naruto had disappeared. That particular wound was still being continually ripped open for all of them with every time that more 'news' about the pair was received. Even now, Sai couldn't get away with calling Naruto 'dickless' without Sakura tensing and threatening to maim him. Something about 'rubbing it in her face'. He still didn't really get that.

He sighed and leaned back against the bark with his arms crossed over his chest as the question that he'd mused over thousands of times occupied his thoughts again.

Where on earth could those two have gone?

If he rather easily ignored his superior's orders and was honest with himself, Sai had no idea what he wanted to happen. There were so many people searching for Naruto and Sasuke right now. Every city and town of the alliance was searching, along with Madara's army and the renegade bounty hunters that had abandoned the stagnant war.

The latter 2 meant almost certain death, but Sai thought that it was rather unlikely that the psychopath Sasuke (as he had dubbed him) would allow that to happen. It would be rather shameful if the proud Uchiha could be taken down by something as pathetic as a bounty hunter.

In the hypothetical scenario that they did manage to somehow defeat Sasuke however, Sai knew that the gang would almost certainly collect their prize from Madara rather than from Konoha, despite both sides making it clear that they would pay well. Bounty hunters knew that Madara could offer so much more than the shattered alliance ever could. Sai had had the personal displeasure of entering negotiations with one of their leaders once, where the deal had been for information and the guarantee of Naruto's safety, should they find him. It was like trying to hold a serious talk with Chouji when the fat boy had a banquet laid out before him. Every second sentence that dropped from the scarred bounty hunter's lips had been about money.

What could Konoha afford to pay? How much was the Kyuubi worth? How much would they give them for Sasuke's eyes?

Needless to say, negotiations had broken down and the next time they tried had ended up with several of the bounty hunters dead. Sai grit his teeth. Even now, the hunters were tracking down Hyuugas on missions like nothing more than game meat. Sometimes the carcasses would be delivered with the eyesockets bloody and empty back to Konoha as a mockery for the earlier bad blood between them. Madara was paying well for their eyes indeed. Almost half of the clan had been wiped out since the war ended. Desperate, Hiashi had even attempted to prevent Hinata from taking missions, but the heiress would not be persuaded. Every shinobi was needed and she would not be treated differently.

"Sai."

Sakura was walking towards him and she nodded her head at him when he looked up, indicating that they were good to go. Sai had already thoroughly searched the vicinity for any clues as to Tsunade's assassination but to his frustration, any evidence left by a fight or otherwise had already been covered up or removed.

As they walked back down the path overhung by a tunnel of thin branches, he thought he saw something, a movement from the corner of his eye. He paused and turned around but found nothing except for the leaves blowing in the wind against the pale sky.

"What is it?" Sakura asked from ahead, having stopped shortly after him. She began walking back towards him. "Did you find something?"

Sai shook his head and continued walking, tugging her arm gently in the opposite direction when Sakura stayed where she was. "Nothing. Just the wind."

Sakura covered her disappointment and Sai berated himself.

On a branch above them, Sasuke waited until the sounds of leaves crunching beneath their feet were completely gone before he jumped down from the tree and approached Tsunade's grave. He had almost been caught when the wind blew the leaves from the ground up into the air and in his direction. If Sai had had a proper angle he would have clearly witnessed leaves sliding off of an invisible barrier. That man was observant. It was dumb luck that stopped Sasuke from being exposed.

He walked calmly to the front of the grave, stopping and standing in the same spot that Sakura had been minutes before. He dropped his genjutsu but rather than revert to his own form, he transformed into Kakashi before the smoke cleared, just in case. It was believable that the Hokage would sneak out of Konoha to visit Tsunade's grave, believable also that he would hide himself for his own safety while travelling.

Sasuke felt that he had to at least appear before Tsunade, but he wasn't foolish enough to do it out in the open as himself. He owed her that much for not granting her final wish.

"I'm afraid you can't see Naruto this time either," he murmured with Kakashi's now unfamiliar voice.

He bowed three times respectfully as Sakura had done. This was a woman who had done what he could not, and had somehow rescued Tokoyo in its entirety. Definitely respectable.

"He'll be livid once he wakes up," Sasuke said with a dry chuckle after he had straightened. "I'll bring him to see you once he's calmed down."

Unheard to him amongst all the other rustling leaves, something slithered away into the bushes. Sasuke sighed heavily before turning around and walking in the opposite direction to the path Sai and Sakura had taken.

_Who was it that killed you?_

* * *

><p>With a wet <em>squelch<em> caused by the jelly-like liquid that it had been sitting in for the past three days, the pale eye was successfully eased into its new home. Kabuto held up the eyelid with one scaly hand and ran the fingers of his other hand over the socket to check that the nerves had attached themselves to the new eyeball. He smiled to himself in satisfaction when his prognosis returned positive results. He turned around and began working on the Zetsu on the next table while his tail sneaked out and pulled a blanket over the one that he had just completed.

He had just pulled out another byakugan from its jar with a pair of sterilised tweezers when there was a pop and he paused, the eyeball in his grip now dripping clear goo in a thick trail back into the jar.

"Kabuto-sama," a low voice called.

Kabuto put the eyeball back into the jar and lay down his instruments on the metal table top beside him. Wiping his hands on his coat, he turned around to look down at the small snake that had appeared on the grimy stone floor of his lab.

"You were right," the snake hissed up at him, "_he_ came."

Kabuto only raised an eyebrow sceptically but on the inside, he felt a rare excitement start to bubble over.

"Are you sure that it was him?" he demanded.

The snake nodded its head and upper body lethargically, forked tongue flicking in and out quickly.

"He may have broken his contract with us," it said, anger underlying its voice, "but we have been summoned by him enough times in the past to recognise him."

Kabuto grinned widely.

"And did he notice you?"

"We sent only our weakest, such that he would not be able to tell them from the chakraless ones of our kind."

"You have done well. I will prepare your sacrifices over the next week."

The snake nodded approvingly at his promise and disappeared, leaving Kabuto with his creations. He could barely contain his sadistic glee. It was time to set the next stage of his plan into motion, and he turned around to continue transplanting the eyes with a great flourish. Madara would not know what had hit him.

The news had pleased Kabuto very much indeed.

_END OF CHAPTER 3_

* * *

><p>As mentioned above and although not a requirement, reviews make om0cha a happy pile of singing goo.<p> 


	5. Chapter 4

My gratitude goes out to everyone who reviewed last chapter: **Piro, Fireotaku18, ovicati, kiki2222, Misaki, negai, KitsuneTay, Rolly, gummybear1620** (so many questions, so many answers...in time ;)),** operagirl76** (dark, apocalyptic plot FTW!),** GoTrinba.**

Warnings: For this chapter...I don't think there's much. Blood? Kakashi? Yep. Kakashi. Grin.

* * *

><p><strong>Beyond War<strong>

By Om0cha

_**Chapter 4: The Venerated Fall**_

One side of the world had become frustratingly obscured, black in a way that was different to the darkness that Sasuke had sought refuge in long ago. Bleak clouds hid any guiding sunlight from him as he relied on memory to navigate his way back to the edge of the woods. Unlike before, he remained in Kakashi's form to travel and he moved with no particular hurry, walking at a leisurely pace that made it seem like he had no destination at all.

The leaves crunched audibly beneath his navy blue sandals that Kakashi had worn the last time Sasuke saw the man and he constantly forced down a desire to lift his hand up and pull away the rough, skin-tight mask that now covered his face and left eye. Try as he might, he could not fathom Kakashi's reasons for wearing it, sans some serious facial disfigurement which even then, he shrewdly doubted would warrant the mask. The man was way too eccentric for that possibility. If Ibiki could reveal his scarred features with sadistic pleasure then surely Kakashi, a man with very little shame, would not be that much different.

At present, the mask was proving uncomfortable and annoyingly _irrational_ more than anything and Sasuke scowled darkly at nothing, his lip movements hindered by the cloth. His sharingan was currently deactivated –Kakashi, after all, did _not_ have a sharingan in his right eye – and he casually cast a grey eye to the delicate movements that he glimpsed in the leaves every now and again as he walked between the trees. He had a compulsion to reach into and pull the explosives from the pockets of the green jounin vest that he currently wore, but he stiffled that train of thought with promises of a delayed and larger scale of destruction.

He sighed much like Kakashi used to do as he pushed aside some low hanging vines in his way, wiping his hand on his pants in disgust when some sort of sticky sap from the vines transferred onto his fingers. The very faint rustles from behind followed him but he made no change to his ambling pace, continuing to calmly lead his followers onwards and to their unwitting deaths. Ahead of him, the trees became more sparsely spread apart. He bared his teeth in an unseen grin.

His short patience only lasted him until he was far enough from Tsunade's grave to make sure that no damage would be inflicted upon it.

Naruto had once jeeringly called him fire-boy when they were genin on a D-rank mission, then dodged with impressively unmanly shrieks when Sasuke only reaffirmed it with his own smirk and a trail of spluttering fireballs in the blond's direction. Followed by lit wire, some more fireballs. Possibly, there had been a few exploding tags involved. The less than impressed canine that Naruto had been walking at the time eventually just sat where it stood so as to stop him from dragging it around. That day, Naruto learnt a valuable lesson about the Uchiha clan in a wondrous display of fireworks spraying up into the Konoha skyline.

The fireballs had only gotten exponentially larger since then and through a mouthful of flames, Sasuke watched as the entire section of forest around him now went up in a fiery explosion that would be visible for miles, the fire so hot that it turned blindingly white where the heat was the most extreme. The annoying mask on his face was completely burnt away by the streams of fire that he had breathed out suddenly without bothering to pull it down. He transformed back into his own form and watched as the woods collapsed all around him. Everywhere there was the sound of crackling and crashes as half burnt trees fell. Lines of golden fire stretched like webs through the smoke where the vines had caught alight.

The forest would be a mess when the flames exhausted themselves in a couple of days. With any luck, no one would even consider his involvement until a reasonable time after that, by which time they would be long gone. Small disaster scenes like this were not uncommon and he wasn't too worried about pushing the blame onto the bounty hunters in this region.

As the flames licking at his body slowly began to lose their rage and die sulkily into small embers that pursued a path further away from him, the shrivelled and diminished bodies of a few dozen small snakes were revealed to him, some hanging lifelessly from branches, others coiled at the roots of black trees where they had attempted to burrow in order to escape the heat. Many more unlucky serpents had been burnt to ash along with the leaves that they had been hiding amongst. Sasuke kicked a tiny, smouldering snake away from him and looked around the clearing with narrowed eyes. They were all weak summons.

The pitch black smoke billowing from the scene was so thick that he could not glimpse the sky beyond it and he growled lowly in his throat. Crouching down, he bit his thumb to draw blood and quickly made the hand signs for a summoning jutsu before putting both palms on the hot earth, wrists pressed together and fingers pointing outwards as smoke rose beneath his hands. He stood back up and stepped backwards after he felt his chakra channel into the archaic, black lines that appeared on the ground. A loud _poof_ interrupted the crackling in the background and when the smoke from the jutsu cleared, a horse-sized hawk with beautiful snowy feathers tipped with black and dark brown stood in the centre of the summoning seal. It inclined its elegant neck at a slight angle and hopped on its talons to face him fully.

"Greetings Sasuke-sama," it said in a deep voice that reverberated richly around the clearing, "It has been a long time since you last summoned one of my clan."

Sharp eyes looked beyond him for a moment and it paused as it studied where it was before commenting, "I would ask if all is well but I can see that things are far from it."

"Intelligent and direct as ever, Takaba," Sasuke said curtly. "I need you and others of your clan to kill all of the snakes around this vicinity. I have disposed of the majority, but I don't have the convenience to track down the few that have escaped."

The hawk did not question his reasons, and only looked at him with a set of naturally fierce features that made it seem as though he were the one beseeching Sasuke instead.

"Is that your only command?" he asked, voice rumbling.

"It is."

"Then it will be done." The hawk unfurled its wings with a soft _whoosh_. Carefully, it stretched them out so that its large wingspan would not touch any trees.

"Your clan has my appreciation."

Sasuke watched as Takaba prepared to take off. The single eye that he could see fixed on him and belied what would be a wise smile.

"It is our honour to serve the Uchiha clan," Takaba said levelly. "Only they can command the skies."

With a single beat of his wings, Takaba was off the ground. He wheeled around Sasuke once in a dangerously tight spiral and let out a single, screeching cry before he ascended swiftly to disappear vertically into the smoke above. On the ground, Sasuke could feel the great gusts of wind from Takaba's wings churning the air furiously. The scorched leaves danced around him as if alive, and the flames in the clearing flared with renewed strength.

Every now and again as he moved further away from the woods, he would hear an unnatural, piercing screech in the distance as a hawk wheeled and dived. He knew that each time, another snake had been discovered and killed. He could place his complete confidence in Takaba's clan. He had entered the contract with them and destroyed the contract with Orochimaru's snakes shortly after Itachi's truth had been revealed. Madara had allowed him to aimlessly wander the countryside for some weeks after Itachi's death and Takaba had been the one to come to him during that time. The hawk had found him one day at dusk as he sought solitariness, sitting on a ledge jutting out from a cliff overlooking a golden forest as the light slowly waned. He had been largely ignorant of the rather talkative bird until Takaba revealed that his clan had a history with the Uchiha's, but that it had been lost generations before.

_Your clan was so keen on ruling the earth below that they forgot about the skies. Our services were no longer needed or wanted. _

Sasuke remembered, Itachi had been able to summon crows. The hawk had then offered him a similar gift, and roosted patiently on the rock beside him until the sun had disappeared and Sasuke finally accepted with a simple lowering of his chin. The contract was signed and he unknowingly moved on to a new stage of his life, unfortunately still riddled with revenge. He knew that Takaba had been pleased the first time that Sasuke summoned him for Naruto's benefit. Although Takaba was his summon, they did not have a relationship of near servitude as had been the case with Orochimaru's snakes. Sasuke came to understand that many summons, like Naruto's toads and Tsunade's slug, were almost equal to their summoners, demanding respect and equality and often sharing values. Takaba was an old hawk, much older than Sasuke. The approval radiating off the bird when he saw Sasuke supporting Naruto shortly after their escape had left him with a sharp reminder of how his father had praised him once as a child. In that moment, with a faithful summon and Naruto's warmth by his side, he knew that he had not yet lost everything.

Yes, _everything_ was still there, just barely out of reach. And he could have it all again, as soon as Naruto was unsealed.

Would there be another seven years? Or would they be found before then? And in a dark section of his soul –

_Will __**I **__have another seven years?_

Seven years was no small number. So much had changed around him, yet just as much was monotonous. It was like being trapped in a void where everything was warped. He knew that time was passing and yearned to live, yet without a relative perception of time and of the end itself, he just floated there without being anchored to reality. Things that had once seemed to be the centre of everything now ghosted softly by him and into that fading past. The heavy chains of revenge slowly slipped away and into nothingness…

It was now a distant, contemptuous thought that he had ever allied with Madara. There had been absolutely no mutual benefit in that relationship. Madara had offered him a tailed beast in return for his loyalty. He had never imagined that the Kyuubi vessel would turn the tables by practically offering himself, willingly letting himself be subject to Sasuke's control. Sasuke also had his doubts about whether Madara had ever meant to keep to their bargain in the first place. He'd caught wind of a similar arrangement struck with Kabuto, and would not have been surprised if the two deals had been mutually exclusive. Kabuto was a man with simple, petty needs. A grandiose prize on the scale of a tailed beast would be wasted on him.

Sasuke grit his teeth unknowingly. He should have killed Kabuto when he had the chance. Instead, he'd given the snake's other apprentice an opportunity to seek revenge and quite possibly, he may have unknowingly contributed to Tsunade's demise. He still didn't consider Kabuto a major threat, more of an annoyance. He sneered at the idea that the silver haired man could one day bring death to him like he himself had done to Itachi. Although Kabuto had trained underneath Orochimaru for longer, the brand of teaching that each had endured was different, and Sasuke did not believe that Kabuto had benefited enough in the area of combat to challenge him.

Only Naruto could challenge him, time and time again. Whenever Sasuke thought that he had figured the other all out, Naruto would unveil yet another new jutsu, yet another thought that Sasuke would not have believed him capable of. And then seven years ago, Naruto had revealed his greatest trump card. With it, he had shown that he was just as unexpectedly manipulative as the rest of them. He would most likely be affronted if anyone tried to accuse him of such, coveted as his values were (it seemed that he much preferred being a fool). But Sasuke knew, and he was sure that Naruto had known too –at least towards the end— that what the blonde had planned, _executed_, was nothing short of a thinly veiled manipulation of the last Uchiha heir.

He accepted Naruto's win with a kind of biting, masochistic respect that was mixed in with a dull anger, the blade of which had never really been sharpened for use. Somehow, he was not repulsed by Naruto's actions. On the contrary, Naruto had only struck home that they were truly equals, and not just in ability. Sasuke accepted it now. He was not the only twisted one. He had gambled with his eyes.

Who would have thought that Naruto would gamble with their lives?

But it had paid off handsomely for the blonde. He had secured himself a powerful companion, the only one that stood a chance against Madara. Sasuke had been won over, and that was the greatest prize that the blonde could have ever hoped for.

Back in the abandoned district, Sasuke gently slid shut the door to the room that he shared with Naruto and settled himself cross-legged on the tatami next to him. He studied Naruto, safe under his care, warm in a room that hinted at a splendour that he most probably had never experienced while awake amongst the living. Sasuke's debt must surely have been paid off by now? Surely, when Naruto awoke, everything could go back to how it had been, years and years before?

Gingerly, he extended his hand and took Naruto's wrist, the seal distinct beneath his fingers as they rubbed along the twisting marks. He imagined the black ink melting away, disappearing from Naruto's body until only the seal on his stomach was left. He could see how slowly, Naruto's pale skin would regain its tan colouring and for the first time, he would view Naruto's brilliant blue eyes on a face that had matured very slightly over the years.

He could already feel the _power_ beneath his hands.

He hurriedly lay Naruto's hand back down as though burnt and scooted away from him, stopping when his back connected with the painted door. Unnoticed, a drop of blood trickled down the edge of his mouth from where had had suddenly bit down on his lip with too much force. His body gradually relaxed against the light wood. As the flickering light cast deep shadows on the walls, no familiar voices haunted him and he was thankful for that small mercy. He didn't sleep, only watched and thought like a starved man, and yet somehow, he still _dreamt_ of that day when he could awake to claim his own prize.

* * *

><p>Kakashi finished engraving the last letter in the stone with a steady finger, detailing the end of the 'e' up into a curling flick. The hissing blue glow faded from around his right forefinger and he stood up, taking a step back to admire his handiwork while wiping away a little sweat that had gathered under his forehead protector with his other hand. Sharpening his lightning chakra to a stage similar to that of wind chakra had taken an unsurprisingly large amount of effort, but he smiled beneath his mask at the name that now decorated the bottom of the third row on the monument stone. It was slightly different to the lettering of the other names on it but he doubted that she would mind very much.<p>

_Tsunade-sama,_ he thought, _you of all people deserve a place here._

When the Council realised the heavy opposition to Tsunade's exhumation, they had been bitter at yet another indicator of their loss of authority. As they saw it, past leaders had always been kept in the crypt, and anything less than that was blatantly going against tradition. Although they stopped short of putting down a decree preventing Tsunade's name on the monument, they ignored her death altogether after that and made no arrangements for her memory, or even to honour her past services to the village. Kakashi and Sakura had organised everything themselves. This morning when he woke up, Kakashi had come to the epiphany that he could go down to the monument and do the job himself. He was sure that Sakura would be pleased once she learnt about the addition upon her return.

He raised his arms above his head and stretched, feeling the little pops in his back with satisfaction. He had been crouching for over an hour but even then it shouldn't have caused his muscles to cry out as they were doing now. Perhaps he was starting to get old. Arms still raised, he heard a faint _pop_ behind him as one of the two ANBU departed from the trees and he knew that the little weasel was off to report what he had done to the Council. Although, it was somewhat curious that he had waited until Kakashi finished the job. Perhaps the Council's servants weren't as brainwashed as they had hoped.

The other remaining ANBU jerked to attention and followed Kakashi when he turned from the monument and began making his way back to the Hokage Tower. He kept at least ten metres behind his Hokage, showing at least that small respect. As he jumped across rooftops, Kakashi tilted his neck up at the clear sky and saw the sun marking the day as being at around 11 in the morning. Gaara was supposed to arrive at the village gates at midday and their meeting was scheduled for 2pm after the Kazekage had had time to go through the identity checks and settle down in his living quarters. He would be staying for Tsunade's memorial service two days later, by which time Sai and Sakura would have returned. Normally, Kakashi would have refused the meeting unless at least one of his assistant or Captain were there, but Gaara had been extremely urgent and secretive about it being as soon as possible. Without Sai and Sakura present, Kakashi would just have to figure out some other way to stop the ANBU from listening in.

He slammed shut the door of his office, leaving the panda masked ANBU to stand sulkily outside. He swept around the cushiony chairs and his table and collapsed down into his armchair, letting his arms hang lazily over the armrests. Bleary eyed, he took one look at the paperwork that remained in front of him and span his chair around to gaze out of the glass window behind him instead. He leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers over his stomach, smiling up at the blue sky that he could see. It was tragic that in Konoha and most of the shinobi nations, the sky was very rarely pure blue anymore. So often it was marred by disturbingly red-tinged clouds, or even the telltale smoke from some unfortunate village that had been attacked. At other times, it had taken up the namesake of the Rain village and would be covered by a sheet of clouds so thick that the sky was completely grey-white. Seven years ago, azure blue had all but disappeared. Seeing it now, Kakashi wondered if it was somehow Tsunade's final gift to them.

With the faint ticking of the clock on the wall and the gentle puffs of wind that came in under the windowsill every now and again, he must have dozed off for a moment because the next thing he knew, he was snapping awake at the distinctly powerful chakra signature of someone entering Konoha. He turned his chair back the other way and as expected, the clock showed him that he had lazed off for about an hour. Coming to the realisation that he could hardly hold a meeting with Gaara when a mountain of loose paper was between them, Kakashi created three Kage bunshins and hastily, they set about signing all of the documents and stacking them neatly on the floor. He thought he heard a resigned sigh come from outside his door and purposely ignored it.

A little past an hour later, the door to his office flew open just as he was finishing off one last small stack, having dismissed his clones when their hands began getting tangled up trying to reach for the same pile all the time. His eyes warmed at the redhead that walked in and behind him in the open doorway, he could see Temari standing with her huge fan next to her, a calculating expression on her face as she regarded the panda-mask ANBU across from her. Gleefully, Kakashi realised that he wouldn't have to worry about the ANBU after all.

"Somehow, I doubt that you actually read all of those documents," Gaara said, giving a small smile by way of greeting. Kakashi tutted at him with a waggling finger as the younger Kage sat down across from him.

He dropped the last sheet onto the pile on the floor and sank back into his chair after throwing the brush down onto its holder with precision. Pulling the top of his mask down by an inch, he showed Gaara his activated sharingan as it faded back into grey.

"Of course I read them," he said cheerily.

"Honestly. That is just unfair." Gaara scowled and Kakashi chuckled. Paperwork, troublesome councils, lunatic missing nin, man eating, shape-shifting Zetsus. Kages had so many problems in common. It was a surprise that they hadn't banded together earlier.

"I trust your living quarters are to your satisfaction?" he asked airily.

Gaara nodded. "However, if we are not intruding, Temari and myself wish to remain in Konoha for at least a few more days after the service."

"Oh?"

"We have much to plan, Kakashi."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him. "What exactly is this meeting about?" he asked. It was pleasingly silent outside his door and he wondered absently what Temari might have done. He was actually feeling a bit sorry for the ANBU. He had to deal with not only a Council of stubborn elders, but with his own antics and the entertainment of his guests. Not all ANBU belonged to the council though – Yamato was one of his – and so Kakashi _could_ consider it that particular ANBU's own fault for pledging his loyalty to the wrong group of people.

"One moment."

Gaara flexed the fingers of his left hand in a claw like motion and sand gushed quickly from beneath him and spread around the room. Kakashi blinked. He was suddenly sitting in what seemed to be an interrogation chamber straight out of Suna, the walls, floor and ceiling completely covered with shimmering, golden sand. Gaara had left the hanging lights uncovered but Kakashi silently bemoaned the loss of the window.

"Now we can speak," Gaara informed him.

"This is a bit much," he commented warily. "Should I begin worrying?"

Gaara snorted. "My news isn't exactly of the bad kind."

"Excellent." He gestured for him to start. "Let's hear it then."

Gaara settled himself more comfortably to the side of his seat. "I'll begin with when I sent the letter requesting for this meeting," he said. "Two days ago, I woke up with a clearer mind than I had had for days. I realised that the remains of a genjutsu were wearing off."

Kakashi's eyes widened comically at the other. "How can this not be bad news?" he demanded. "If anyone finds out, your position will be challenged instantly!" Especially in Suna, he thought darkly, where the village had already experienced the terror of the Fourth Kazekage being placed under a genjutsu in the past.

"Which is why no one will find out," Gaara said firmly. "Only Temari, Kankurou and now you know. I can trust all of you with my life."

"Okay…"

"Why I wanted this meeting as soon as possible isn't just to tell you about that though. It is because I didn't only remember what I did while under the genjutsu, but I remembered who cast it on me."

Gaara fixed him with a serious look. "I came across Sasuke Uchiha while I was in Tokoyo."

Kakashi sat up straight like he had been pricked with pins. All of the hope that he had felt that had deflated with Gaara's letter weeks ago, suddenly came rushing back in a tidal wave that left his voice a tad weaker sounding than he would have liked. "Then that letter that you sent after we asked you about the code…?"

Gaara nodded. "I sent it under the influence of the genjutsu," he confirmed with some shame. "It seems that Sasuke wanted all of the attention diverted elsewhere."

"Then they really were in Tokoyo."

Gaara's lips thinned with a bit of concern as he watched Kakashi slowly sink back into his seat again. The copy-ninja's single visible eye appeared glazed with the bitter realisation that they had been _so _close to finding his two missing pupils. On the other side of his table, Gaara could see the original team 7 group photo framed and in a revered position between two other group photos, one taken before, one taken after. Suddenly, in apparent alarm, Kakashi raised his head sharply.

"Where were they when Tokoyo was destroyed?"

"I'm afraid I don't know that," Gaara replied regrettably. At Kakashi's frustration he reassured him, "Sasuke has only grown more cunning and dangerous since we last met, and my spies have not reported any suspicious activity from Madara. It is highly unlikely that Naruto has been captured."

"We are back to square one, then," Kakashi muttered. "It has been weeks. They could have gone anywhere."

"It is not completely hopeless."

At Kakashi's questioning look, Gaara said, "I can still feel the remnants of Sasuke's chakra affecting my system. Before it completely disappears, I want to try tracking him down using the alliance's sensors."

"We have tried tracking down his chakra signature countless times," Kakashi said in response. "Why would this time be any different?"

"Because none of us realised that his chakra had changed." Gaara sighed and motioned his hand. "I noticed it as we were fighting. It is a very subtle change, but enough to throw off any trackers who only have an exact sample to compare with." Kakashi looked dubious.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Positive."

Kakashi unconsciously began poking at the cotton under the armrest as he mused, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "How is it possible for his chakra signature to change? Actually. Never mind. Yours changed, didn't it? But Sasuke does not have a bijuu that could cause that…"

"His eyes," Gaara interrupted Kakashi's spoken thoughts, "were different. I don't only mean that his sharingan has progressed. That was to be expected after so many years. There was something else in them. I am not sure, but it was almost as though his own chakra had mixed with someone else's…"

Kakashi suddenly felt very cold in the room, strange because even a breeze couldn't sneak in through the sand barrier. Mixed with someone else's? Whose chakra would Sasuke steal? Whose chakra _could_ he steal? One obvious answer came to him, and it was a very unwanted one. Could Sasuke really use Naruto in such a way…?

"Kyuubi's?" he whispered.

"I hope that that isn't the case," Gaara murmured. "It didn't feel like the Kyuubi's, but I may be wrong since I don't know what such a combination would become. But whatever caused the change, I want to try and track Sasuke down by using the chakra in my body as a new sample."

Kakashi closed his eyes and rubbed at his furrowed brows. "We can't do anything about that yet," he said tiredly.

"Are none of your sensors –"

"We have a few sensors in the village at the moment, that isn't the problem," Kakashi interrupted. "The problem is that Sasuke's chakra will have to be distilled from your own before it can be used as a sample. _That_ will require a lot of skill, and must be done by someone we trust completely. Not only that, we will need a sample of your original, untainted chakra for the process."

"A sample of my original chakra…"

"Well, maybe that part won't be as troublesome as imagined." Kakashi tapped his chin sheepishly. "I believe that Sakura still has a sample of your chakra somewhere, so we could try using that. She took it a few years ago when you came for that meeting about resources. She has created quite the large catalogue of chakra signatures for identification purposes."

Gaara looked impressed. He had not even noticed her take his chakra. "She is a rather sneaky woman," he commented offhandedly. "Why can't she do the distillation? She is skilled enough, is she not?"

"Ah, and therein lies the problem," Kakashi said with another waggle of his finger. "She is out of the village at the moment and shouldn't be back for at least another day." He looked over Gaara and the younger man knew that the sharingan was activated beneath the mask.

"I can still see the foreign chakra," Kakashi stated, "but it is rather weak."

Gaara nodded. "It has been dissipating at a rapid pace ever since my mind began to clear," he said. "I don't know if it is even enough to be useable as it is. It might be completely gone in a day."

"Well, all we can do now is send a message to her and hope that she gets back quicker than expected." Kakashi sighed. "I'll get to that straightaway."

"That will be appreciated."

Neither of them moved for a moment, and then Kakashi turned his eye pointedly from one side of the room to the other. With a barely contained smirk, Gaara let the sheets of sand fall to the floor and slink lazily back to his gourd.

"Kakashi, if you cannot even escape from my sand, what would you have done if Sasuke's genjutsu had had me attack you?" he asked mockingly.

Kakashi jumped swiftly to his feet, slapping both hands once on the table before walking around it and towards the door. "Now that, my dear Kazekage, will be a tale for another day!" he called over his shoulder. "Do you care to accompany me to the lovely tower that is our aviary?"

"I'll pass," Gaara declined. He knew that aviaries were far from lovely. He got up as well and Kakashi stood aside politely, letting the other walk out the door first. "Temari and myself will be in our rooms if you need us."

In the corridor, Gaara nodded to Temari and the two of them began walking towards the staircase that led to the residences for important foreign visitors. All diplomats stayed in the Hokage tower. It was supposed to be the safest place in the village after all. The ANBU was curiously nowhere to be seen and in amusement, Kakashi noted that the hanging scrolls on the wall appeared slightly ruffled, and that there was a slight spring to Temari's step.

"Hokage-sama!"

Spoken too soon. He smothered a groan when another, different ANBU suddenly came barrelling down the other end of the corridor. This ANBU wore a mask with a monkey design and from what Kakashi recalled, he was not one of the Council's men. The ANBU seemed to recognise the redhead walking away behind Kakashi and he shouted out to the Kazekage as well, surprising them both with the lack of proper mannerisms. The sand siblings paused and Gaara turned on his feet.

"Urgent news!" the ANBU said breathlessly to the both of them. "Word has come in from several of our shinobi outside of the village. Madara's army has turned upon itself!"

Gaara was at their side instantly and the ANBU flinched at the two men who suddenly seemed a lot more closer than they had been a few seconds ago. Behind them, Temari slowly approached as well.

"What did you just say?" Gaara said dangerously, to which the ANBU held his hands up meekly.

"From early reports, it seems like Madara has lost control of some of the Zetsu and edo-tensei," he informed them. "They are attacking everything. Villages, travellers, and even each other. _Particularly_ each other."

The two Kages exchanged a look.

"What is going on?" Kakashi muttered. This was too sudden. He frowned heavily and looked at the ANBU. "Have any of our shinobi been injured?" The ANBU shook his head.

"No, our shinobi are accounted for," he replied earnestly. "Haruno-san and Captain were attacked on their way back but they have sent word that they are safe, and that they are returning to the village as quickly as they can."

"Go and issue my orders to put the village under lockdown," Kakashi commanded him. "If the Zetsu really are on the move, then we can be sure that there will be many imposters trying to get in, especially under the pretence of Tsunade-sama's funeral. Anyone trying to enter must prove without doubt who they are first. Go now!"

"Understood."

The ANBU quickly bowed low to each of them in turn and disappeared from sight. Gaara turned to look at Kakashi, his green eyes calculating.

"The edo-tensei are Kabuto's doing," he said slowly. "Perhaps this is a mutiny?"

Kakashi gave a few small nods as he considered the possibility, running the fingers of one hand through his grey hair in frustration. "Yes, that might be the case." He suddenly looked at Gaara sharply. "Could this have been timed for when you weren't in Suna?"

Gaara growled at that. "Very few people should have known about my departure. This is becoming a mess." He turned to look at his sister. "Temari, I need you to go back to Suna and give the same instructions. Send them a message first. Intelligence should already have received news at the same time as Konoha but make sure that everyone is operating on the highest security. You will stand in as Kazekage until my return."

"You're not going to return now?" she asked in shock.

"My village needs me," Gaara acknowledged grimly, "but I must stay in Konoha for at least one more day until Sakura can return and distil my chakra. It is essential for the alliance. I can travel fast, Temari, so do not worry about that. I may be able to get back even before you, depending on when she returns."

When Temari looked hesitant, Kakashi decided to step in.

"Ne, Temari, I will take good care of your little brother, so you can go back and handle things without worrying." He jovially clapped a hand on Gaara's shoulder. The other stiffened very slightly but Kakashi kept it there. "I will send him back with some of our best ANBU as soon as Sakura's done with him!"

Temari gave him a small smile. "Alright then. I will go back and handle affairs in the village."

"One more thing," Gaara said before she could leave, edging out from beneath Kakashi's grasp. "If the Raikage contacts Suna, whatever you do, do not agree to his demands without letting us know first."

"Ah." Kakashi nodded grimly. "Yes, I imagine that the Raikage would love to use this opportunity to deploy our combined forces and attack Madara's supposedly weakened army."

Temari assured them that she would not make any major decisions without confirmation first. Gaara sighed after she left.

"What is happening? Are we returning to war again?" he muttered.

"I don't know, Gaara." Kakashi glanced out the window. Who would have thought that something so terrible might happen on such a day? "This might be a trap. We still need more information before we can make decisions on anything."

"It is pretty safe to say that Kabuto is behind whatever is going on out there," Gaara said ruefully. "As for whether it is a trap, it seems that all we can do is wait and see for whom it is he set it."

* * *

><p>The sweet singing of a child, pure and carefree such that Sasuke had not heard for many years, cut through the roaring of the waterfall more potently than a sharpened blade. His eyes snapped open when he first heard it and for some minutes he did nothing, only sitting there on the cold, wet stone as the girly, childish voice echoed in the small cavern, hidden behind the sheet of glowing, blue water.<p>

"She sounds so…free."

Beside him, the 8 year old Naruto gazed yearningly at the water even though nothing could be seen through its churning depths. He was smiling sadly and Sasuke knew what he was thinking. In any other life, they might have been just as carefree, taking just as much happiness from simple pleasures. But instead, fate had dealt them a rogue hand. The last Uchiha and the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. This would be their life, and nothing else. This was _theirs_, and no one else's.

"I wonder what a little girl is doing out there?" the young Naruto pondered out loud. Sasuke shuffled beside him and he watched as the Uchiha got to his feet and walked towards the waterfall. He gawked when the other dunked his own head beneath the heavy stream of water, just deep enough so that his shirt would not get wet.

"Sasuke! What are you –"

"Shut up."

Naruto's jaw clanked shut and he looked at the other with wide, hurt eyes as he pulled back from the water, shaking his head to get rid of the excess moisture. Brushing his fingers through his wet locks, Sasuke walked back past him and to the end of the small cavern where the real Naruto lay nestled amongst several duvets. Sasuke's back was to the entrance as he stared down at his unconscious companion, clear rivulets of water running down his neck and across his stony features.

"You are not as strong as him," he murmured, his echoing words directed to the 8 year old, softer yet louder than the singing all at once. "He knows that we cannot change anything. That there is no point in thinking about 'what if's.'" He exhaled deeply. "You are only a shadow of him."

_And I cannot wait much longer._

He turned around and locked gazes with the younger Naruto. The blonde's lips were parted slightly as he stared up at the eerily still Uchiha, his expression pained, unsure and tainted with the barest glimmer of fear. Normally the 12 year old would have appeared by now to defend the younger, but Sasuke had a feeling that that would not be the case today. They could only endure his hatred and anger for so long and the 12 year old had been the one to deal with him the last time. They were only illusions that were unable to face the full brunt of his emotional upheavals. They could keep him at bay temporarily but in the long run, nothing could compare to the real thing.

Both of their eyes widened when the soft singing in the air suddenly dropped off into a drawn out, high pitched scream. The child Naruto swung around wildly to look at the waterfall and then disappeared as Sasuke swept by him to see what was going on outside. Activating his sharingan, Sasuke stopped next to the water and looked down just in time to see a small, brown haired girl collapse on the banks of the river below. The sudden silence was unnerving and standing over her, a boy that appeared to be no more than 2 years her elder was grinning, his expression unlike anything that Sasuke had seen on a child that age. The two children looked to be siblings and he felt a lurch in his stomach.

He stood frozen as the boy kicked out at his dead sister and her body rolled once with a splash into the shallows, her oddly twisted throat showing that her neck had been cleanly broken. The boy crouched down next to her and twined his fingers around her neck, continuing to throttle her lifeless body more as her long, red dress floated in the water beside her. The sweet song was gone, replaced by the sounds of his raspy cackling as he shook her violently.

Sasuke clenched his fist at the display, at the brutal cruelty to one's own flesh and blood. Unbelievable, degenerate… a part of his own cursed past.

The boy –monster— looked up as he burst from behind the wall of water. He didn't even have time to register the features of the dark blur moving towards him before a sharp katana had cut him through, stopping his wicked laughter mid-breath and forcing a gasp from his lips instead. Pitilessly, Sasuke's eyes flashed beneath his wet bangs and he dragged the katana sideways and out of the white flesh, creating a long slice from the creature's lower left abdomen to just below a quickly softening white rib on his right. No blood spilt from the Zetsu as it toppled forwards onto the little girl that it had murdered. No doubt her real brother was already dead in the woods somewhere.

Disgusted, Sasuke hacked at the white mound a few more times before kicking it violently off the girl and into the water, where it floated like some gruesome, bloated corpse that had been there for days. He sheathed his katana in the clasp attached to his belt and bent over, intending to take the child and move her to somewhere closer to the nearest village. That way he could avoid people investigating as far as this area and perhaps, her parents would identify and bury her. At the very least they would be able to mourn one of their children.

He had just placed one hand beneath the back of her neck when he noticed it. He paused and then his other hand, instead of supporting her knees as intended, went up to lift one of her eyelids instead, thumb and forefinger holding the skin apart. Frowning, he looked down to check her eyes and his own widened at the unmistakeable pearly hue of the byakugan that stared glassily back at him.

He swore as the limp hand next to his came to life and clutched like a powerful vice on his wrist, strong enough that he could feel the joint threatening to dislocate under the pressure. He tried to stand up but with surprising strength the new breed of Zetsu laughed menacingly and pulled him back down, surging forward and attempting to smother him with white. Gritting his teeth, he channelled his chidori current throughout his entire body and with an ear-splitting screech the Zetsu was killed almost instantly, dropping limply away from his limbs. The stolen features of the girl finally melted away, leaving only a faint, smoking humanoid similar to the one floating in the water behind him.

Sasuke panted with the sudden shock that he had received as he tore himself from the clinging flesh and stumbled to his feet in the shallow water of the banks. He looked down at the dead creature, focusing in particular on the eyes. The girl had been no normal zetsu. It was one of the ones rumoured to be more powerful, able to escape detection more skilfully than their original counterparts. And it seemed that the byakugan was the source of their extra power. The transformation had been near flawless, unlike the one that had transformed into the little boy. The two were obviously created at different times, possibly even by different people. And they had gone against each other.

His fist trembled by his side. The words spreading through the shinobi world like wildfire were true and now the evidence was presented before his own eyes. Madara's army had mutiny within their ranks and he felt a thrill of morose excitement course through his body, together with Naruto's words to not do anything until the time was right. Perhaps it was the shock, but he felt more impulsive than normal.

When was the time right? When would it _ever_ be more right than now?

He sank both bodies to the bottom of the river and then returned to the cavern behind the waterfall, knowing that somewhere, another two children were dead and abandoned. Life really was much too short. Sopping wet, he slowly advanced upon Naruto, unclasping the katana at his waist and dropping it to the ground with a dull clink as he stalked towards the other. He fell to his knees next to him and with his face close to the blonde's, ran his hand across a tan forehead and through golden hair, leaving a few tracks of water across his skin as he almost reverently drank in Naruto's features, as though he didn't see him almost everyday, as though this might be the last time that he could do so.

Rationality called to him, told him to stop before everything was changed forever. Like a turning point, like his brother's death, a sister's death, like the uncertainty that meant that everyday might be his last in this world. Naruto's voice reverberated in his mind, the younger voices pleading for his patience.

What did Naruto want him to wait for?

_For how much longer did Naruto expect him to suffer, alone?_

It was enough. Everything was enough and he didn't want to wait anymore, knowing that what could be his best or even only chance at happiness had come. Something inside him screamed and ignoring it, his right hand went down to the holster on his thigh and flicked open the top. He hooked a finger through the loop of one kunai and pulled it from the holster.

One hand continued to caress Naruto's face almost lovingly.

The other lifted the kunai above Naruto's chest.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Kill me, if you really don't think that darkness will follow.<em>**

* * *

><p><em>End of Chapter 4.<em>

Reviews are appreciated, and reviewers are loved!


	6. Chapter 5

_No cursed seal, no man or woman or army could keep me from bringing you back._

_Even if I am ripped apart, limb by limb, I will still find you,_

_**Sasuke**__._

_You are my goal, always have been since we were children._

_At just a whisper, I would track you down to the ends of the earth._

_At your command, no seal could keep me, and I will, definitely and without fail, _

_**Return**__._

_._

_._

_._

_**Beyond War**_

By Om0cha

_**Chapter Five: The world that I cannot know**_

It had been a small, typical room, the type originally furnished with only an adjoining bathroom and a table and bed for furniture. The bed remained, taking up half the space since Sakura did not plan on leaving until her work was finished, but a few extra tables had been squeezed in so that there was now only a narrow strip of floorboard left to walk on. The tables were put end to end and covered with a variety of equipment and liquids that she had deemed necessary for the distillation process. Natural light from the fourth storey window bequeathed everything in the room with a softly glowing edge.

She thought that the small, makeshift laboratory was relatively cosy considering its location. It had been privately set up for her use in sampling and distilling Gaara's chakra and only a few people knew about its temporary existence in a shabby, old apartment building two streets away from Hokage Tower.

She sealed away a test batch of liquids that had failed to yield anything and checked the pendulum clock clicking away on the wall above a rack of silently smoking, multicoloured test tubes. It was about time for Sai's visit and she quickly squeezed another pipette of liquid onto her scroll, hoping to get a few more batches tested before he arrived for her report.

A few minutes later, the door opened with a click and Sai came in at the exact time that they had arranged. He always was very punctual. Kakashi's habit had not rubbed off on any of his students. The door was closed behind him and the little seal that was drawn where a lock should have been automatically glowed and reactivated itself as he stepped further into the room.

"Good morning Sakura."

"Morning Sai," she said without turning from her work, face stern in concentration. She extended her left hand blindly. "Could you pass me the rack next to you please?"

She scowled at the table when her next test went cleanly through the parchment and left thick, gluey marks on the surface. Stretching forward, she retrieved a damp cloth from the shelf hanging on the wall to clean it up with.

"You haven't been eating?" the other asked disapprovingly, placing the requested rack down closer to her. He must have noticed the half full cup of cold instant noodles sitting on the corner of the table.

"I have. The noodles were breakfast."

"That hardly counts as sustenance, don't you think?"

"You're talking to a proficient medic, Sai," she reminded him as she wiped away the sticky liquids. "I could sustain myself on tablets for months."

"Yes, but it does seem very hypocritical," he said mockingly.

"Oh, be quiet." Sakura threw the cloth over her shoulder and she heard the wet slap as he caught it before it could smack him in the face.

There was shuffling in the narrow space and Sai entered the side of her vision, a white ANBU mask cupped in one hand and the other reaching out to place the discarded cloth back on the shelf, next to a scrap of material that she had taken from Sasuke's old room in the Uchiha district. Catching sight of Sai's long, black sleeve, she turned sideways to face him and stared, tilting her head and looking him up and down. She had never seen him in the long sleeved ANBU outfit. He had always stuck to the more form fitting tank and black pants.

"You look good," she said with a praising smile. "Are you going on a mission?"

He shook his head. "No. Kakashi just thought that wearing this would be less obvious than an unfamiliar henge wandering around the village." With pursed lips he lifted the thick, hooded cloak hanging behind him. "I never did like how heavy this was," he scoffed.

Sakura chuckled as she turned back to her work. "Trust me, it looks much better than that midriff shirt you used to wear."

"But clothing should be comfortable and easy to move in," he protested, sidling around her to get to her other side. "You never know when an extra bit of speed could save your life."

"Well, we can always petition for a new outfit later."

Sakura cast her eyes to either side of the desk before remembering where she had placed the daily report. Bending over, she pulled out the small wad of papers on top of the little deep freeze underneath the table and slapped them to Sai's chest.

"Here. I still haven't managed to get anywhere yet," she informed him a bit sombrely, waving a hand at her work as he flicked through the sheets. "And I'm starting to run thin on the original sample of Gaara's chakra."

Sai nodded, shifting the papers and his mask and holding them to his side in one hand. "Don't pressure yourself too much. We all knew that it was a small chance from the beginning."

"I never said I'm giving up."

Sai smiled. "No. You didn't."

Sakura spread out a clean scroll. "Tell me about what's happening outside," she said as she painted a deep purple base onto it. "Has anyone been asking questions about us?"

Sai shook his head, a finger tapping away at his chin. "No. Your letter to Ino did the trick," he said. He sat down on the edge of the bed so as to not get in Sakura's way as she darted around gathering different items. "Just about everyone believes that we have been assigned to a last minute recon mission. Shikamaru probably has his suspicions, but that's to be expected."

"I knew Ino would tell the others," Sakura said with a smirk, self-satisfied that she had been right.

"It is more believable though because the fighting outside the village has escalated," Sai pointed out. "Otherwise, I don't think that anyone would believe that you would willingly miss Tsunade-sama's funeral." Sakura spared him a glare for both reminding her of her master's death and pouring figurative cold water on her. He tactfully refrained from telling her that doing that made her look like an inflating frog.

"There isn't any direct threat yet but Kakashi has put everyone on the maximum level of security," he said instead. "The Tower itself is in lockdown."

"Already?"

He nodded. "Yes. The majority of the great villages believe that war is about to begin again. Delegates have already begun arriving and it is best if we don't give the enemy any chances. The Mizukage is here in person. If anything goes wrong it will be on our heads."

Sakura sighed and her hands stopped moving across the scroll. She put her fingers flat down on the table edge and leaned her bodyweight against it. "I thought that we would have more time."

"Seven years has already been good for us," Sai reasoned. "Considering how little time Naruto must have had to plan, I daresay things have gone better than what he would have hoped for."

"I suppose…"

Naruto's last act before his sealing had indeed been impressive, but Sakura would always remember that he had not done it alone. There had been someone else there for him, someone extremely unexpected but who was the only one that mattered at the time because he had done what _none of them could_.

The room was suddenly stifling and she cast her gaze around at all her complicated equipment and swallowed.

She could not deny that she had gotten to where she was today because of Naruto and Sasuke's influence. It was ironic that at the same time, their great –and terrible, in Sasuke's case –achievements would overshadow and sometimes plunge her into a dark well that made her feel completely helpless and trapped on all sides, wanting only for someone to pull her out. Much too often, she felt that she was left in the dark by those two and unable to do anything but wait.

They were her light, her positive influence, but at the same time they were the source of her deepest, unreachable agonies. They had forced her to become the woman that she was today and for that she desperately wanted to be able to do something for them, rather than always the other way around.

_She so desperately wanted to atone herself for not believing in them, for not being there._

She twisted her head to the side. Even now, she thought in disgust, she was still motivated by so much selfishness.

There was a squeaky creak to her right and she turned to see Sai pushing open the window, letting in the air and noise from the street outside. The black haired youth leaned against the sill next to the green pot-plant, inhaling the fresh breeze that forced itself through. Sakura felt it ruffle her hair refreshingly and her muscles automatically loosened beneath its soothing touch.

"You are not alone, Sakura," Sai said suddenly. She looked up at his face.

He was turned to her seriously, trying to convey with his eyes how sincere he was. If Sakura didn't know that that had been one of the last things he learnt from those damn books before they were done away with, she would have _maybe_ found him somewhat romantic at the moment.

Nonetheless, she smiled at him and watched him take encouragement from it. "Thanks Sai."

The other smiled back and she grinned widely before making a dramatic shooing motion at him with her hand, pointing her forefinger at the door.

"Now get out so that I can finish the rest of this lot before night!"

"Are you sure you don't just want someone to replace the light?" Sai asked her as he was marched to the entrance. "Or I could always get you candles? I hear girls like candles because they're romantic." He cast a sceptical glance at the single hanging light bulb that Sakura had complained about being too dim to see even her own two hands with.

"What? I don't even..." She sighed. "No candles. And unless you're changing the light bulb for me then no, I don't want anyone else in here. And _you_," she said warningly, "are not supposed to be strutting around the village either, so don't even think about going out there."

"I could just wear my mask –"

"And get kicked out of the shop?" Sakura queried disbelievingly. Most store owners nowadays had their customers remove any face coverings before entering the store –Kakashi was the obvious exception, talk about leading by example –and some of the few higher class establishments that remained had even set up jutsus that automatically banished basic transformations.

"Fine," Sai relinquished with a pout of all things, "but I am bringing you proper food from tomorrow."

"Your own cooking?"

"Of course," he said, like he couldn't understand where else she thought he'd get it from.

Sakura threw her hands up in a do-what-you-please motion but smiled as she went to open the door for him.

"See you tomorrow," she said as he walked out past her.

He lifted his free hand to her in the corridor before putting his mask back on and disappearing.

She closed the door again, sliding in an extra lock now that she wasn't expecting any more visitors for the rest of the day. Taking a deep breath she turned back into the room, not missing the noodle cup on the desk. She clicked her tongue resignedly at it.

She ended up reheating and eating the noodles before diving back into her work, sitting on the bed near the window and trying to finish them without rushing and choking as she looked out over the streets that were still peaceful for now. She was pleased to see children running around despite the lockdown, although their parents were keeping a watchful eye nearby. Chewing slowly, she looked up to where half of Tsunade's face in the mountain was visible, Kakashi's face directly next to it on the right. She prayed that Kakashi's reign would last for longer than her master's had.

Her eyes dimmed regrettably. The idea of Hokage had changed in the people's eyes. It was still revered and the Hokage was still naturally associated with power and good traits, but the word 'martyr' had also silently become linked to the position. Perhaps it was because Naruto was no longer around to spout long monologues on the greatness of the Hokages or how big of a dream of his it was, but Sakura felt that aside from Konohamaru, there was not really anyone who consecrated the position anymore. It had simply became too much of a burden, a risk that families would not allow their loved ones to even think about.

_We will end this_, she thought with determination. _We will end this and Kakashi will become a senile old man and be forced to retire._

She swallowed her last bite and stuffed the empty foam cup into a paper bag on the floor next to the bed. It was straight down to business now and she tied back her hair and rolled up her sleeves, knowing that it would probably get humid later in the day. It was rarely sunny but it definitely got humid at times, thanks to all of those clouds. She let out a huff and reached for a test tube.

By the time early afternoon came around, the table on her right was covered with a few more long racks of tested liquids, several of them spilling their contents everywhere. Her hair was messy and loose around her sweaty face from the speed with which she had been spinning around from table to table and the bed was strewn with several scrolls that she had gotten sick of trying to stack up neatly so that they wouldn't roll. She opened the deep freeze to get some more solutions out, basking in the cold air for a moment and sighing heavily when she saw that she was only just over two thirds of the way through.

She continued her mechanical process of painting a base liquid onto several places of a scroll, dripping her test batches on then waiting a few seconds for the reactions before rolling the useless scroll back up and tossing it behind her. She worriedly swirled the purple base in its shallow bowl with the brush that she was using. There wasn't very much left and she couldn't keep on diluting it. It was already spread so thin on each parchment that very soon, she would have to begin squinting for the reactions.

For the next few racks she continued to see undesirable results, frustrated that each time a little more of the precious base was wasted. Perhaps a couple dozen tests later, she raised an eyebrow and then panicked when there was no reaction at all.

Frantic, she picked up the bowl and swept the brush across the bottom. She calmed a little when she could still clearly see the tiny purple crystals clinging to the bristles, reflecting the colour of Gaara's original chakra. It had not yet been overly diluted and she put it down, turning back to the scroll quizzically.

Looking at the still liquids, her confusion slowly turned into excitement and with wide eyes, she unfurled a new scroll and allowed herself to layer on a slightly more generous coat of the base than before. She took the remaining test tube solution, colour coded a shade somewhere between red and orange, and this time poured it directly onto the scroll without bothering with a pipette.

The reaction was instantaneous. She watched as before her eyes, the two liquids seemed to amalgamate into an ugly brown before a bright, navy blue vapour began wafting from the combination. She quickly grabbed a small vial from the bookshelf and held it upside down, using it to capture the stream of rising vapour. It took a few minutes for the sluggish reaction to end, by which time she had collected a decent volume of the chakra. She carefully capped the vial before turning it upright, examining it closely and holding it like the most delicate piece of crystal in the world.

"I did it," she whispered. Within the glass the deeply coloured chakra rolled stubbornly against its prison, fighting to escape as uncontrollably as its master.

She wrapped her hand tightly around the vial and looked out the window. Night was falling and the streets had been deserted in its wake. Her eyes narrowed as she cast them around the silent, dark room, suddenly no longer as cosy and inviting as before. Paranoia was creeping upon her, a worry –no, a _feeling_ that something might happen before morning, like those vibes that Tsunade had claimed to feel when she won a gamble and something would inevitably go wrong afterwards.

She knew that she should tell Kakashi now. The sooner that they were able to utilise this the better, and she hoped that she could catch him before he met with the other delegates.

She pushed the vial into the pouch on her skirt and walked quickly to the door, grabbing a dark cloak to throw over herself so that hopefully she wouldn't be spotted and questioned as to why she was in Konoha instead of on her mission. She undid the seal on the door and then pulled the handle almost violently in her excitement, just managing to stop the door before it could slam into the wall in a way that would most definitely shake the entire floor and the ones above and below it.

Hurrying down the corridor, she practically flew down the staircase at the end, only stopping at the bottom floor to peek out from behind the wall and check whether the coast was clear. After pulling her hood up and making sure that all of her hair was covered she darted out into the street, sticking to a path that did not have as many streetlights.

A couple of minutes later she materialised in the shadow of a building in front of the Hokage Tower and looked up, the wind billowing in her cloak and waving the leaves from the trees that framed the Tower. She could see more lights that usual lit at the top, indicative of the extra foreign guests that were living in those rooms.

"How to get in without anyone noticing…?" she muttered to herself, eyes darting all around the vicinity. Going through the main entrance while the building was in lockdown was not an option at the moment.

_There_.

She pinpointed a tree well placed to jump onto one of the higher, concentric ledges of the Tower. Placing her hands and fingers together, she cast a genjutsu along the path that she intended to take and quickly dashed across the street before leaping up onto the ledge, using the tree as a platform.

She deactivated the familiar seal on the window to an empty room in front of her and pushed it open carefully. When it was wide enough she jumped through and landed silently on the plush carpet before letting the glass back down, at the same time scanning the room for anything suspicious.

From memory she knew that she was a floor above Kakashi's office and in the high security living quarters. Nobody was able to use ninjutsu upon entering this area. She hurried across the finely decorated room and was about to slide open the door when she heard voices from the neighbouring room. Her hand paused on the handle and her heart rate increased dramatically when she identified the voices of the Mizukage and one of her guards, Chojuro. She bit her lip nervously, suddenly realising how bad this would look if she was caught.

She had to get out of here without them noticing. If she was caught eavesdropping as a shinobi of Konoha –and in particular the Hokage's own assistant— then there might be repercussions for the relationship with Water. She internally scolded herself.

_Sakura, you big idiot_.

"…_tell Madara we've got it."_

She froze. Her head turned sharply to the painted wall in disbelief.

"Got you."

In the next split second she whipped around and pirouetted on one foot, just barely avoiding the punch that was aimed for the back of her head as she span out of the way. The hand swept by her side and her stomach dropped when she felt her pouch grabbed from her waist. Through the darkness she saw the Mizukage's other guard, Ao, taking several steps back and lifting it in one hand. The man opened his mouth to shout out to his comrades and thinking fast, she dashed forwards. She grabbed his arm so that he wouldn't crash into the glass with the momentum and drew back her free fist.

She pushed all her weight behind the movement and even without chakra, her punch to Ao's chest literally knocked the breath from his lungs and he gasped weakly at the cracked ribs perforating his flesh, sagging with the words caught in his throat as the pouch slipped from his fingers and into her waiting hand. Eyes flashing, she flicked her wrist and a kunai from the inner pockets of her cloak was withdrawn. With a blink of metal she dragged it across the muscle and nerves in the front of the man's throat.

Pure shock filled her in the next moment when instead of beginning to shift into a deformed, humanoid white mass as expected, blood gushed uncontrollably out from the deep wound in the dead man's neck. In horror, she released Ao's arm and he slumped into a twitching heap the carpet.

Staring down at Ao's upturned face, she saw the sharingan shining ominously in the light from outside. She numbly took a step back and only the reminder in the back of her mind that more enemies were next door stopped her from collapsing loudly into one of the chairs there, her hand moving to shakily grip the back of it instead. One thought ran through her mind, echoing despairingly.

The Water Country had fallen. And Madara had been there to do it personally.

The realisation that the shinobi alliance was no longer complete sent a choked sob through her chest before another, darker thought wormed itself through. How did they get into Konoha, she thought frantically, despite all of the men specially trained to see when a genjutsu was in play? How did they get past all of the examinations? How did they know where she was? How, how, how? Her blood went cold.

_Traitors. There are traitors amongst us._

She held her breath when she heard a door sliding open and listened to the Mizukage –the puppet Mizukage–and her faux guard walk down the hallway. Only when they had gone down the stairs did she release it. She bit down on her lip viciously to stop any whimpers and tried to rationally think over everything.

The meeting would be underway now and she would not be able to see Kakashi until it was over, assuming that he didn't have other matters to see to. Acute fear gripped her in its claws. How many of those delegates in that meeting were fakes, sent by the enemy? Would Kakashi and the real delegates be overpowered? Would they launch an attack now?

Her hand snaked into the pouch with the vial and she gripped it tightly, trying to calm herself with its assurance. If the other countries had been infiltrated to such a degree then Konoha could not be untouched. At the very least, she knew that at least some of the shinobi in charge of the vital task of identifying enemies were enemies themselves.

And of the traitors, one of them had known that she was here. She wasn't naïve enough to hope that they didn't also know what she had been doing.

There was no point guessing who the person or people were and a part of her mind blacked out Sai and Kakashi, unwilling to go on an analysis of their actions for the past few weeks. She knew only one thing for sure now and that was that she couldn't let anyone get Sasuke's chakra. She had to protect those two. _She had to._

_She had to leave_.

She exited through the same window, a ghost flitting down the empty street, untouched by the street lights. The levity of what she was about to do took her back to another time when she had been willing to abandon this village of her own complete volition. Grimly, she thought that perhaps she had always been meant to follow in Tsunade's footsteps.

At the apartment she took the test tube that had contained the successful solution and poured the remaining quantity down the sink in the bathroom. She hesitated when she remembered that Sai would be coming the next day but eventually scribbled down a note and shoved it into the empty foam cup from before, coating an extra genjutsu over it. She trusted that Sai knew her chakra well enough to identify the taint in the room. Hoisting her light backpack onto her shoulder, she took one last look around the room before stepping up onto the window sill.

Ironic, how her teammates had taken this path before her. It seemed that she would always be tailing after them.

She leapt forward into nothingness.

* * *

><p>She was in a lush forest, every direction of which offered her the exact same, serene scene. Golden light poured enchantingly from behind every tree trunk and Sakura allowed herself to appreciate the rare beauty, inhaling the musky, wet smell of nature with each fresh breath.<p>

_Sasuke's chakra. This way._

She walked in a South Westerly direction through the forest and not long later the sound of crashing water could be heard. The tree trunks began to grow less dense before disappearing altogether and she stepped out from springy foliage onto a rocky shore. She stood at the very edge of the gently lapping water and looked up the churning river to the great sheet that was crashing down and giving the water its life.

Her eyes travelled further up the falling mass and she instantly knew that this was the place. There, where the cliff edge should have continued smoothly around the mouth of the waterfall, the rock was broken and cratered as though some great force had exploded from beneath.

This was the place, definitely. The very air _reeked_ of power.

Excitement growing, she turned and walked quickly along the shore, pausing at one point when she saw some bloated white matter floating in the water. She inwardly shuddered but ignored the otherwise harmless bodies and scaled the cliff-face in front of her easily, jumping through a gaping chasm that had once been a cave entrance halfway up.

Brushing the water from her outer clothing, she looked around and the first thing she saw was that almost the entire roof of the cave was gone. Sunlight, water and refracted rainbows were pouring in through the hole above her so that the waterfall was staggered backwards some metres from where it had originally been. A once over of the cave revealed that nobody else was there.

She swallowed the disappointment that crashed down on her like the coldness of the waterfall and looked around more carefully. She should have expected nothing less from them. At the very least she now knew that Sasuke had been here and she bypassed the water to step further towards the back of the cave, hoping to find something that could give her an idea of what had happened. A few items littered the ground including a flask, some twine, and some scrolls that Sakura was surprised had not been taken with their owner. She suspected that said owner must have left in a hurry.

Something dark on the base of the wall in the shadows caught her attention and she moved towards it. As she got closer she could see that the dark patches were also on the floor beneath it. She swallowed when a refracted light beam allowed her to see the rusty hue.

She crouched down next to a dried, dark puddle on the ground. Tentatively, she reached out and touched it with the tips of her fingers, hesitating before bringing her hand up to her face.

It was weak. So very, very weak. But as she ran her chakra through the blood, something told her beyond a doubt that it was Naruto's.

Her hands went to grab each other over her knees and she remained hunched over, wide eyes moving over that corner of the cave in shock. Given any other circumstances she would have been exhilarated at finding a sign of her missing, blonde teammate. Instead, she was now fearful and desperately wanted to know what had happened here. There was _so much blood_.

"Oh my god," she whispered. "Naruto!"

She stumbled to her feet, thinking unclearly for a moment. Then she got back down on her knees and rolled out a cloth storage that she always kept on her person. From one of the pockets she extracted a small surgical knife which she used to scrape away some of the blood into another vial, feeling somewhat sick as she did so.

After the vial was secured in her pouch next to the one containing Sasuke's chakra, she made her way slowly back to the cave entrance, wondering despairingly how she was going to continue her search now that one dead end had been reached. After this discovery she felt even more harried to find them faster but to her frustration, her sensory abilities were sadly weak. She had only been able to locate this one place because of the unnaturally high density of chakra in the air.

Had they been attacked? There certainly had been enough chakra to indicate such and Naruto had definitely been somehow injured. She quivered at the thought that the other side may have already found them and desperately pleaded to whoever would listen that they were at least still alive.

A sudden, shrill bark from outside made her cast her gaze wildly to the light gleaming through the water in front of her, hand flying instantly to her weapons holster. There was another bark.

"Sakura! Down here!"

Half hidden behind the waterfall, she pressed herself against the wall and glanced out the gap it made with the cliff. Down on the surface of the water, a very familiar and small dog was sitting on its haunches, muzzle raised up to where she was.

"Pakkun?"

"Yo."

She lowered her chin and stayed behind the rock wall. "How did you find me?"

"It was hard," the dog grumbled. "You did a good job of messing up your chakra, but fortunately for me I never forget a signature. I figured it out soon enough."

When she still didn't move the dog sighed loudly. "Mizukage," he said. "Your secret message to Sai was about the Mizukage."

Good enough.

She jumped down the twenty odd metres to the water and landed neatly in a crouch, her cloak trailing the water behind her and ripples dancing from beneath her feet as she stood up and approached the nin-dog.

"What did Kakashi say?"

"He was mad at first when he found out that you had left. Completely understandable. First Sasuke runs off to a madman, Naruto runs off with Sasuke, and now you disappear and chase after them like a lovesick pup," the dog rounded off eloquently. Sakura's eyebrow twitched. Do not hurt the dog, she willed herself. Remember, it will disappear with its pudgy tail between its legs.

"Don't worry, he was more understanding after Sai showed him your note," Pakkun droned. He suddenly puffed out his chest and laid a paw over it. "And that's why I'm here. The best tracker of the nin-dog league, at your service."

"And the Mizukage?" Sakura questioned.

"Alive for now. Kakashi is preparing to ambush her soon. If he's lucky he'll be able to dispel the genjutsu without resorting to killing her. The spies in the village will be a bit more fiddly though."

Sakura nodded, she had expected nothing else from her Hokage. Reaching behind, she took out the two vials, first raising the one with Sasuke's chakra. "I need you to follow these. I don't have much of this one left, so make sure that you remember it."

"No problem."

She leaned over and the dog sat up, raising its snout towards her hands. She uncapped the vial for only a split second before quickly recapping it, pulling away while Pakkun sniffed gingerly at the air.

"Definitely the Uchiha," he muttered and raised himself up again as Sakura uncapped the vial with the flecks of Naruto's blood.

He took slightly longer with this one and his expression was as disturbed as a dog's expression could be when he finally pulled away. Sakura re-pocketed the two vials and made sure to redo the clasps of her pouch tightly so that they wouldn't slip out the gaps.

"They are together," Pakkun said after a minute of concentration. He got on all fours and began trotting towards the shore, Sakura following close on his tail. "This way."

The air became colder as they travelled North and Pakkun informed her that the blood and chakra scent were both strongest in a surprisingly populated village very near to the Land of Iron. It didn't take long to reach it and Sakura was unnerved at how close the village was to the cave that Sasuke's chakra had been permeating like poison. Security to the village was also a deal more lax than she was used to -probably due to the peaceful culture of the samurai- and a simple genjutsu did the trick.

She pulled up her hood and weaved agilely through the crowds of people, Pakkun going mostly unnoticed as he stepped between and around the sea of ankles. He stopped in front of a narrow flight of stairs squeezed between two shops and Sakura saw from the worn, dangling sign that an inn was upstairs.

"It might be a trap," Pakkun warned her.

"I don't really have a choice," she answered.

The dog shrugged and began leaping up the stairs. Sakura climbed up more slowly, trepidation clenching her chest like a vice with each step. The inn was on the second landing and she pushed open the peeling entrance door, letting Pakkun squeeze in first.

"Greetings!"

Pakkun threw her a sharp look as the man behind the counter –evidently the inn owner – clapped his hands together and smiled brightly the moment Sakura was through the doorway. The dog pawed pointedly at the dimly lit, tiled hallway to the left of the counter.

"Are you looking for a room for one?" the man asked Sakura eagerly. He hadn't noticed Pakkun yet.

"Actually," Sakura said, pulling off her hood and forcing a smile, "I'm looking for someone."

"Oh." The man's face fell and his welcoming demeanour slipped away instantly as he waved his hand flippantly. "Well, there's only one room taken at the moment, and I highly doubt that they're the ones you're looking for. Some man and his sick wife."

He grinned lecherously then and waggled his eyebrows suggestively, hand fiddling with the old-fashioned bow at his neck. "Unless you're the third party?" he leered.

"What? No!"

"Well, you'd probably best get going then, shouldn't ya?"

"_Sakura."_

The three pairs of eyes in the reception turned simultaneously to the deep voice that had spoken from the hallway.

Sakura's hand flew up to her mouth at the sight that met her and Pakkun growled, walking backwards until he met with her ankles.

The inn owner spluttered.

"You…who are you!" he screeched, running behind the counter defensively. "And why are you covered in blood!.?"

Sasuke's eyes flickered to him, terribly dark compared to the crimson that was splattering his entire front like a grotesque design. Sakura lunged towards the counter but was too late to stop the kunai that went cleanly through the inn owner's neck the next second, the metal thudding wetly into the wall with a chunk of flesh still attached.

"Get in the room, Sakura," Sasuke said, turning away from the fallen corpse. His eyes slid liquidly down to Pakkun and Sakura quickly recovered a position in front of the dog, hands held out by her sides.

"Pakkun, leave," she muttered.

"Roger," he replied nervously, and Sakura felt the smoke from his departure curl around her legs.

She met Sasuke's eyes steadily, cold and piercing beneath all of the blood. Her mouth opened and closed, searching for the question that she should ask after so long.

The blood…Naruto…

"Sasuke," she mumbled a bit dazedly, "what –"

"Get in the room, Sakura, and _heal him_."

He reached forward and she didn't even think to avoid his hand as it grabbed her wrist and yanked her with him down the hallway, his grip strong enough that she would not have stood a chance even if she had used chakra. He pushed her ahead of him through the very last door on the left and she stumbled over the uneven tiles in the doorway, rubbing her wrist before lifting her head to look into the room.

It was dark, and only a glimmer of light escaped through the closed blinds, but that single break of brightness was enough for her to see everything with clear vision. Cheap picture frames and other decorations had been thrown everywhere as though in a fit of violent rage and the room in general had been reduced to a complete and utter mess.

She gulped as she saw the thick smears of red that splattered one corner of the room, so similar those she had seen in the cave. The _smell_ that met her was like something from a warzone.

Her eyes moved with dread to the still pile on the floor close to the corner and there, she finally found the centre of the war that had changed everything.

"_Naruto!"_ she choked out.

Sasuke didn't stop her as she ran forward and slid to her knees on the tatami next to the body on the futon, the blonde hair and whiskered face unmistakeable even when covered with a thick crusting of both dried and fresh blood. Eyes wide in disbelieving horror, she looked up and down his body, seeing the slight emaciation beneath the thin clothes, the paleness, and most of all, the terrible, multiple wounds in the left of his chest that were still bleeding and beginning to get infected.

She fought back sudden tears and snarled, turning around accusingly with her hands fisted in the sheets in front of her. Sasuke stood against the opposite wall next to the open door, for all intents and purposes looking as calm and collected as ever as he watched her slowly break down.

"What the _fuck_ did you do to him?.!" she shouted, rage and sheer grief uncontained. "For god's sake, did you even try to help him?.!"

"His blood wouldn't clot," the Uchiha answered hollowly. She saw his gaze roll over the blonde's face. "Just heal him Sakura."

Sakura wanted to interrogate him more –namely, how did Naruto end up with such mortal injuries– but controlled herself and turned back to her other teammate, shrugging her backpack off to the side. She roughly wiped away the moisture at the edges of her eyes and could only stare for a moment–he still looked so _young –_ but then Sasuke growled impatiently and she placed both hands above the deep cuts over his heart, telling herself that she could not make a mistake at now of all times. With a deep breath and a flare of chakra her hands began glowing green, channelling life in waves back into the blonde.

She looked back up at Naruto's whiskered face and her concentration wavered again, forcing her to quickly return her focus to her hands. Her eyes blurred. She couldn't even begin to identify what she was feeling right now, everything was just so meddled up. She had thought that she would be relieved when she met the blonde again but now, that had been corrupted by the grim circumstances in which she had found them.

Her chakra began fluctuating fifteen minutes later and sweat was dripping profusely down her face and neck. She knew that she was running out of energy but thankfully, the top layer of skin had already knitted itself back together and had stopped most of the bleeding. She pushed on stubbornly for another ten minutes before the glow disappeared and she collapsed weakly on her side next to Naruto. Trembling, her hand reached out and tried to wipe the blood from his face. He didn't stir. She hadn't seen him so much as twitch the entire time.

She turned her head to look at Sasuke, wetting her dry lips.

"Is he still…?"

"Sealed? Yes."

With great effort, she pulled herself up, supporting her body on quaking arms. She had had to put everything into healing those wounds but it was still not enough. The flesh underneath remained torn in places and she would have to continue when her chakra had recovered some.

Silently, she pulled out a few blood capsules from her medical pack and lifted Naruto's upper body carefully, placing his head on her thigh. Sasuke wordlessly passed her a glass of water and she crushed the capsules into the liquid before tilting the glass to Naruto's blue-tinged lips. It was slow but she made sure that the mixture had all gone down his throat before she lowered him back onto the futon.

"I thought you were supposed to be protecting him," she muttered, turning dulled emerald eyes to the other.

She thought that she saw contempt on the features that she had once daydreamed of as a teenager.

"What would you know about protecting?" was the only thing that Sasuke said in reply before walking out of the room.

Sakura lowered herself back onto the tatami mats, debating a bit about the dangers of closing her eyes and resting. Outside, she could hear the sounds of latches flicking and blinds being pulled as Sasuke closed down the inn.

I'll believe him, she thought, and relinquished her hold on consciousness.

* * *

><p>It took longer to patch Naruto up than she thought it would.<p>

Until now, she had never really appreciated just how much the Kyuubi's chakra and Naruto's own strong immune system had contributed to his fast recovery time. Sasuke told her early on during their unplanned reunion that in his current state Naruto's body had all but shut down, maintaining only the minimum activity necessary to keep him with the living. Sakura confirmed it grimly.

A day turned into days, into a week and then two. She spent each of those days healing Naruto for an hour before taking up the remainder of it to rest and recuperate her chakra for the day after. She would lay beside the blonde, never losing sight of him until her weariness forced her into dreams, and even then she saw only Team 7 and what they had once been.

The cycle continued but outside of her dreams she felt used, like some tool that was easily disposable. The fact that Sasuke was willing to prepare and bring food for her instilled this idea deeper into her mind. He would acknowledge her existence and feed her like a short-lived pet, but he rarely gave her the respect of conversation that would make her human.

"Promise me you won't leave," she said to him one day, as he walked into the room after finishing his short shower next door.

That you will not take Naruto away from me again.

Sasuke looked at her from the corner of his eye before resuming to pat his damp hair dry with a towel, turning to the drawers to retrieve a fresh shirt that he pulled over his head when he was done. The both of them slept in the same room as Naruto and they silently agreed that it was because they could not trust the other with their precious person.

"Promise me," she echoed again, when he had settled down on his bedding on Naruto's other side.

Sasuke could decline. He could refuse her this assurance and still be sure that she would continue to heal Naruto. But he didn't, and he met her eyes for the first time since she'd seen him in the entrance hall covered in blood. They were impossible to read so it barely made a difference anyway. Delicate lips on a bewitching face parted, and issued a curse.

"I promise."

Perhaps that should have been the first warning.

For the days after that, she noticed that Sasuke was in the room more, especially never leaving around the time when she would continue the slow process of healing Naruto's wounds. He never watched her, his obsidian eyes much too taken with the blonde that lay still like the centrepiece in the small room.

Sakura wasn't blind. She saw the darkness that had only grown more omnipresent since his defection. What disturbed her was that that darkness, that deeply embedded insecurity and anomaly and practically everything that made Sasuke the unstable individual that he was, somehow seemed to all go back to Naruto. Itachi had been an interlude that was now over. Destroying Konoha was a pastime that was never realised. No other dream could last him forever.

She realised then that she wasn't the only one who could consider her teammates both a blessing and a curse and it awoke in her something ominous. Perhaps, team 7 were fated to destroy each other…

"How much longer?" Sasuke asked her one day, unblinking eyes still on Naruto.

"Soon. Maybe a few days," she had replied.

She shouldn't have given him a time.

It was that hour of the day and she was healing Naruto again, a small smile cracking her face as she sensed that this would be the last round before he was back to full health. Physically anyway. She wasn't forcing herself to use as much chakra now that the blonde was out of imminent danger and she was pleased with the way that his lips and cheeks had regained a light pink hue.

She didn't give much heed when a few minutes into the therapy, Sasuke looked away from Naruto, obsidian eyes sliding sideways and fixing instead on the slight quirk of her lips. She did notice, however, when he shifted on Naruto's other side, getting out of the casual position that he had been in with one leg bent in front of him. Hands still glowing, she watched him fold his legs beneath himself and sit closer to Naruto upon his knees.

She thought that he probably just wanted to get closer so as to watch Naruto better and so she cast her eyes back to Naruto's chest and studied the seal there, the black design nicely set off by the unbuttoned white shirt that framed it. The intricacy of it continued to awe her, ever since the day that the bruising of Naruto's skin had finally cleared up enough for it to be visible. When Sasuke continued to shift some more however she looked back up, because the Uchiha never had been known to be fidgety. He could remain still for hours when a mission called for it.

It took just one look at the kunai in his hand for everything that she had known in the past few weeks to fall away.

"Sasuke, what…?" She felt fear spark through her veins but she did not move away, continuing to push chakra through her palms.

Maybe she was too arrogant. Too self centred, to think that this had ever been about her. Sasuke was rearing up like a regal serpent with kunai in hand and she was so certain that in the next second, she would find it cutting through her own heart or neck. She tensed, preparing to take the hit.

So when the kunai went flashing right past her eyes before continuing in a downward, arching descent instead, she could only sit back and watch in disbelief.

_I'm dreaming. No…_

The splash of blood beneath her hands shocked her from her stupor. It splattered all over Naruto's chest and neck in fine droplets, as well as on her own and Sasuke's clothing. She stared for a moment, the crimson burning itself into the back of her eyes and mind, even as tan skin paled rapidly in contrast. Then the kunai _twisted _at an angle and her mouth dropped open to issue a piercing scream.

The green disappeared from her hands and she moved them to desperately grasp the kunai handle, fingers finding a purchase wet with blood over Sasuke's own hand. She tugged frantically, trying to dislodge the kunai from between Naruto's ribs, gasping and falling forward when she felt it forced further down instead.

_Why?_

Had they really both just been tools all along? Mere means to an end for their renegade teammate?

"Stop," she wailed. "Stop!"

Sasuke ignored her and leaned over, knocking her back with his shoulder so that she landed hard on her behind on the tatami. She pulled herself up onto her elbow just in time to see the metal sink down to the hilt, the tip of it without doubt now deep inside Naruto's heart.

"What are you doing?.!" she shrieked wildly, scrabbling back up to her previous position and trying to shove Sasuke away. Sasuke didn't budge from over Naruto, only lifting his other hand before his face, two fingers raised.

"No, stop, stop it, _Uchiha!_"

"If you don't want him to die, Sakura," toneless and heartless, "then continue your jutsu."

"You—!"

He twisted the kunai more and her words were cut off. Blood pooled on the carpet like water from an overflowing sink and with another cry she lunged forward, this time plastering herself over Naruto's front as her hands reached out and resumed glowing over the kunai and wound.

"Take it out!" she cried, trembling with rage and terror. "Traitor. You _traitor_! Uchiha, let him go!"

She wanted to strangle him. But doing that would mean stopping the green glow that was keeping Naruto alive, and so she could only watch as Sasuke coolly continued whatever jutsu it was that he was performing, completely still except for his two hands. Large, swirling spirals were appearing on the floor beneath all three of them, forming from Naruto's blood and becoming an archaic, cursive font that decorated the inside of…the seal?

_I don't know! _Sakura thought, cracking. _I don't know anything anymore!_

Only that she must not let him break Naruto apart.

Yes. Protect Naruto. Protect him from the _Uchiha_.

"Traitor," she breathed again, and glared at Sasuke with passionate hatred, clear liquid staining her cheeks. "Was this what you wanted all along?"

A smile, bitter or sadistic, Sakura couldn't tell, twisted Sasuke's lips.

"Yes."

The seal beneath them began glowing, golden light filling the entire room. The blood that had painted the spiralling designs was now like liquid gold that bathed everything with its blinding touch.

_Murderer._

"Murderer…"

She winced and began breathing heavily as she poured everything that she had into her precise healing jutsu, her mind and body weakening fast. She watched Naruto's flesh try to close over the blade, only to cut itself open again as it met with the sharp edge. Healing, only to be torn apart again. She couldn't keep on healing forever and she looked again to the source.

Sasuke was causing this. He was hurting Naruto –hurting _her _–and she lashed back in kind, throwing abuse after abuse at him until her throat was aching and she could only glare death. Sasuke ignored her, closing his eyes and focusing on whatever cursed jutsu it was that had Naruto spiralling dangerously close to death.

All those wounds in the beginning, she thought in fury, everything had been caused by Sasuke all along!

Why?

_Uzumaki blood..._

The perfect sacrificial lamb.

_Precious..._

His selfish desires.

_Precious person..._

_**You must kill.**_

Sasuke opened his eyes and Sakura was not surprised to see the pinwheel in his pupils. It was like Kakashi's mangekyou but more beautiful and terrible all at once. She knew that it was close to all powerful, under the control of a true Uchiha.

"You killed him!" she screamed, and that was all that made sense to her. Kind of.

Sasuke pulled the kunai out suddenly and flung it uncaringly to the side, the red stained metal clanging loudly where it landed. Sakura realised that the golden glow beneath them was waning and she looked at Sasuke's face, flinching at the inhuman hunger that she found there even though she thought that she couldn't possibly see anything worse in this ordeal.

"_Naruto."_

The murmured name came from _him_.

"Don't you dare say his name!"

Sasuke looked down to where the wound was and she did too, shocked when she saw that it was no longer there and the skin appeared as smooth as silk. She knew her own limits. It had not been her that healed it. Then she noticed something else and her eyes sought out Naruto's neck, his wrists, his ankles in bewilderment.

The seals were gone.

Sasuke abruptly pulled Naruto from the sheets and to his own body, and the movement combined with her confusion caused Sakura to fall. She collapsed onto the ground, panting and struggling to stay awake as she attempted to regain her proximity to Naruto, the overuse of her medical arts taking its costly toll.

"What…?"

Her emerald eyes widened when Naruto's hand that was hanging limply in front of her suddenly spasmed, fingers twitching in a way that was soon mimicked by his other hand. Sasuke was gripping that other hand tightly in his own while his other arm held Naruto to him, the blonde sitting in his lap with his side propped against his chest.

Naruto's head was resting on the older male's shoulder and when the twitching movements reached his lips and eyes as well, Sakura found that time abruptly froze. The room was still as the two of them awaited the return of something as vital to their world as air and the sun. They waited with bated breaths.

Golden eyelashes flickered. Sasuke's hand clamped around Naruto's like a vice.

Sakura saw Sasuke whisper something against Naruto's ear but she would never know the words meant for them alone.

Then like the answer to a command, eyelids lifted slowly. A previously dormant chest heaved with the difficulty of sudden breaths. Eyes fluttered to life and with them, azure blue was returned to the world for the first time in seven years.

Sasuke's arms tightened around Naruto and what might have been joy was abruptly wrested away from Sakura. Instead of calling out to Naruto, she watched helplessly instead as the blonde slowly tilted his head back until blue connected with obsidian. They stared at each other, blinking slowly, and Sakura understood in that moment what it meant to be the third party. Naruto's lips parted as though to speak but the ghost of a frown crossed his features when no sound came out.

He was disorientated, Sakura realised. He was confused and Sasuke could do anything he wanted and Naruto could do _nothing!_

"Naruto," she finally whispered weakly, unable to manage anything more. She begged for him to look her way but he either didn't hear her or was already caught in Sasuke's sharingan, which at some point had flared back into existence after fading.

Sasuke glanced over at her dismissively before he returned his gaze to Naruto's face. He shifted and rewrapped his arms more securely around the blonde. Naruto's eyes closed but his breathing remained strong and steady.

Sasuke lifted his hands behind Naruto's back in a familiar jutsu and Sakura's heart plummeted.

"No," she whimpered in little more than a croak. She tried to pull herself closer. "You promised! You _promised!_"

Leaves were swirling in the room, forming a mini whirlwind around Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke looked at her one more time, already fading away. Then, as though to mock her for ever thinking that she could have either of them, he pressed his lips to Naruto's forehead. Sakura screamed.

The leaves fell to the floor, abandoned now that their cause was served.

Sakura fell with them.

_End of Chapter 5._

* * *

><p>As always, my love and homebaked cookies go out to those that reviewed. I need to give an ESPECIALLY big thank you this time because you guys have gotten me to that magical 100 review mark! To <strong>SurefirePhoenix, ovicati, Fireotaku18, TaeMint, Damp, Sanz0girl, Rosebunse, Italian Roulette, Crazy Irish Lass, clio1111, Jena, The Darkness Of Your Fall, GoTrinba, Mizuiro Yuki, Imaginary Boy, WolfSong, bridmatt, kiki2222, gummybear1620, operagirl76, missmonti, Piro and Voere<strong>, I thank you all dearly for giving this story your time, and I hope that you will continue to read :)

Also, I got my first critical review last chapter and it really made me think. In a good way. You know who you are, and I am nervous about if I've managed to improve this chapter, but I would love to hear from you if you do end up reading it.

To everyone else, whether it be concrit, pleasure, or pain, I would love to hear from you too. Until next time.


	7. Chapter 6

Despite my lateness completely not deserving you all,** thank you so very much **to **mistralle, clio1111, Rosebunse** (Sakura is alive ;)),** ovicati** (FLYING TACKLE GLOMP),** Fireotaku18, Sanz0girl, demonsLOver, Ttrace, Wolfsong, Italian Roulette,** **EgotisticalxTurtle **(am I weird if I love it when people refer to my stories as such? XD)**, koifish, TaeMint, Melikalilly, The Darkness Of Your Fall, Hyouhaku, gummybear1620, Failing Mentality, Protozoa **(blush, for completely appropriate reasons, mind you),** Rolly** (Naruto wouldn't have awoken on his own, or if he does, he would do so so far into the future that even I wouldn't know about it ;)),** missmonti, missbip0lar, Piro, Mizuiro Yuki** (thank you, I appreciate you for taking the time to let me know, and am happy that you like my writing style :)),** DaisyTango28** (I hope I don't disappoint you! I read Cruel Irony before and I have the feeling I've got a tough reader on my hands ^^;),** mis0ram3n, nettieneko, sunshine143, narutofweak **and** jesokaa** for reviewing the last time and continuing to support this story. You guys keep me going when writer's block attacks and sinks its vicious paws into me.

~~~~~Also, **ovicati**, love of my life and my self proclaimed valentine (stolen or not), has given me sweets in the form of my first fanart for this story *goggly eyes*. I don't think links show up here so please go to my profile to find the link ~~~~~

* * *

><p><strong>Beyond War<strong>

By Om0cha

_**Chapter 6: The Remembrance of Reality**_

Multiple streams of water trickled in the background somewhere, running steadily over stone and tile before dripping melodically down to join a greater body of liquid. The clear sound snuck into dreams of nothingness, creating ripples that tempted Naruto easily away from that empty other place.

Something stirred with the tinkling swirl of whirlpools.

The next thing that joined sound in his consciousness was the breezy wind upon his skin, slightly humid and much warmer than the frigid gales that he had last felt in the forest near the Land of the Samurai. With it, an orchestra of rustling overtook the trickling water, louder and more demanding of his attention than the calming waves. His hands were touching something soft and his curiosity taking over, Naruto opened his eyes.

A shower of leaves, carried upon a tepid breeze, fluttered before him.

He was laying on his back on what he guessed was a long, thick cloak over hard blades of grass, the material unusually soft yet strong beneath his prodding fingers. Straight ahead of him was the night sky, leaves cascading ahead of it, and he gazed distantly at the stars strewn across in brightly glowing clusters. A ghost of a smile took hold and he lifted his right hand above himself, stretching it up and sliding his spread out fingers across the velvety expanse as though he could stroke it given enough determination.

Something moved in his peripheral vision and he paused, not having bothered to take note of everything else around him. Arm still raised, he turned his head on the ground to his right, glimpsing a shadowy figure sitting in one of the large trees forming the grove. Strange blue flickers of light were dancing across the branches and trunks every now and again. He lowered his arm and the tenseness disappeared from his body at the familiar, upswept hairstyle that he saw, scarcely visible in the shadows.

"Sasuke," he murmured.

This was a nice dream.

He waited for the figure to move again, but it was as though he had heard his thoughts and was staying sinfully still just to spite him. He wondered if he could see Sasuke's face for once and he pulled his upper body up with difficulty, suppressing a shiver at the air that met his back. Looking down, he raised an inquiring eyebrow at the thin, foreign clothes that he was wearing before shrugging to himself and pushing off the ground. The palm of his hand touched something smooth in texture and a sharp pain shot through the top of his neck at the same time as he attempted to leverage himself up. The next thing he knew, a force had pulled him back down and flat onto the ground with a solid thud.

Frowning in bewilderment, he placed a palm on the ground next to his thigh to support himself and twisted around. It took him a few seconds to register what he was looking at on the grass there, shining an odd combination of gold and blue in the ambience. He reached out cautiously and picked up a lock of long, golden hair, following it with his eyes to where it curved around his middle. It felt exactly the same as his own hair did and with a taint of harrowing apprehension, he tugged, hard.

_Ouch!_

He dropped it with a yelp.

Eyes wide, he reached behind himself with both hands and quickly patted up his back until he found the twine wrapped base of what was, without a doubt, a ponytail. He ran his fingers over the tie, identifying it and pulling it off, giving the red twine only a passing glance before throwing it to the grass. The hairs at the base of his neck remained firmly attached to his scalp, the rest of the sleek bundle now hanging loosely over his shoulder where his action had swept it. Fingers curled in golden strands as he realised with a sinking heart that his hair had somehow managed to grow unbelievably long without any memory of it doing so.

A whooshing sound accompanied by soles meeting earth reminded him of the figure in the tree and he snapped his sights back to the man that was now stalking across the grass towards him. Black pants, boots, and a high collared, sleeveless tank covered the phantom-like shadow, the light gradually illuminating more of his body the closer he got. Naruto's throat went dry when it cast upon the other's facial features clearly.

He could only stare as the dark haired man crouched down beside him, face inches away from his own. Then Sasuke reached out and plucked the fallen, red tie from the grass. Holding it loosely between thin fingers, he leaned over and reached behind Naruto's neck to the loosened hair there. There were a few soft tugs as Sasuke –_Sasuke?_— retied it, Naruto sneaking sideways glances at his face every now and again with a hesitant wariness and more than a little confusion.

Spice and musk, subtly mixed, washed over him.

He scarcely dared to breathe.

Sasuke was pale, and ruggedly older than he recalled. Definitely older, he thought with a swallow. The younger Uchiha seemed more roughened, still unnaturally elegant but with an acquired masculinity that belied his strength. Even crouching, Sasuke was taller than him and Naruto looked first from his thin lips at eye level to the highly sculpted nose. He moved to the narrow, obsidian eyes last, highlighted by the barest wisps of greyish blue, the tint made more obvious by the strange blue glow permeating everything. He averted his gaze and examined the area behind Sasuke with interest when dark eyes darted to his momentarily in the middle of wrapping the twine around.

The blue glow was brighter over Sasuke's shoulder. A soothing, ocean blue and when Naruto made to sit up straight to find the source, Sasuke threw him a curt look to keep still, revealing a flicker of something that had once belonged to Naruto. Naruto stopped shifting but lifted a hand towards him instead. Sasuke paused, watching the blonde's expression as he hesitantly reached out and touched his strong jaw line, lightly running his fingers across a chin that was as wide as a fully grown man's should be.

Warmth, there and so very palpable beneath his very fingertips.

"This is real, isn't it?" he croaked hoarsely.

Sasuke stared at him and the brief moment at the inn returned to Naruto. The tie was tightened. A rich, deep voice whispered a single word in his ear.

"_**Breathe."**_

A familiar taste, experienced once before, pressed to his unsuspecting lips.

* * *

><p>Naruto wiped the water droplets from his lips and chin with the back of his hand. With his thirst momentarily quenched after drinking continuously from the strange, glowing fountain that he was currently kneeling in front of, he began to think. Within the shallow pool, the water slowly settled without his disturbance, becoming almost mirror-like in its calmness.<p>

It drew him in and leaning over, he braced his palms on the stone edge and gazed at his reflection in the lightly rippling water, illuminated softly by the blue lights glowing from the tiles lining the sides of the pool. He lifted one wet hand to his face and watched as his mirror image did the same, feeling a scarred cheek that had lost almost all of its baby fat. His hair was still spiky and short around his face but the single long length that hung over his shoulder drew his eyes like a magnet. He fingered the wet locks lightly and noted with a pang of nostalgia that they were almost as long as his mother's red hair had been.

His eyes swivelled back to his face. The changes there were subtle, but for him who had not seen his own visage develop gradually through the years, he could suddenly see the mix of his parents more obviously in himself. The large eyes of his mother, the rounded taper of her face, his father's straight eyebrows and even the oddly 'pretty boy' appearance that his mother had accused his father of having all of his life were slowly rising to prominence. He looked more like their son now. He was still a young, not quite developed brat, but he was getting there.

The wind blew and some leaves fluttered down from the nearby trees, disrupting the surface of the water. He pulled back on his haunches away from the stone edge, slowly so as to not encourage any outlandish action from the man that he knew was lounging on the ledge of another pool somewhere behind him. He was uncomfortable with not knowing exactly what was happening all around him, and to his frustration his senses were coming back at a dismal rate, much slower than they should have been. But he supposed that that was to be expected, now that he had had time to come to grips with the fact that he really had been unsealed.

The regeneration jutsu was designed for use by only an Uzumaki, after all.

His breath hitched when Sasuke's white face suddenly appeared in the wavering water next to his own and he hurriedly rearranged his expression when he caught the briefest flicker of fear within the large, blue eyes of his own reflection. Ridiculous, he scolded himself internally, heart-rate increasing traitorously. This was Sasuke. The Sasuke that he had pursued relentlessly for three years of his life and who had taken him from the war. No doubt about it.

And his mind whispered the reality that Sasuke had dropped reluctantly like a guilty secret.

_Seven years_.

"Are you alright?"

His strong voice was familiar beneath the deeper quality and Naruto drank it in as greedily as the water that he had been consuming moments before. But where was the same satisfication that it had given him, the jibes and insults attached to every sentence? Or even his name, which Sasuke used when he was serious?

"I'm fine," he forced out, and he couldn't help a slight shiver as he looked over their reflections again, seeing the obvious differences. Sasuke was an adult towering over him, physically and mentally. He was a fully grown, mature man, and no longer the teenager that Naruto had been equal to in every single way. The realisation was hitting him in small dosages, slowly but surely preparing to overwhelm him.

_How to continue chasing, when his target was now time?_

Sasuke's hand settled heavily on his shoulder, dragging him back, and he refrained from shaking his head furiously as he wanted to do. He turned around and climbed to his feet, the hand sliding away. He pulled a grin to his lips and ignoring the fact that Sasuke had just seen every discomfort bared raw in his reflection mere seconds ago, he spoke as normally -_remember?_ - as he could.

"I'm fine," he repeated firmly, looking Sasuke square in the eyes. He shuffled on his feet uneasily when he saw the bruise that was forming on Sasuke's left cheek. The skin was a particularly dark shade of purple bordering black on his cheekbone and Naruto knew that that was where his knuckles must have connected. He had hit pretty hard, so convinced he was that Sasuke was an imposter.

"I'm sorry about that," he said, gesticulating awkwardly. "How is it?"

It wasn't as if they hadn't knocked eachother around in the past. Completely the opposite, and everyone in Konoha had feared their destined meeting. But this time the violence on Naruto's part had been provoked in a rather unorthodox manner, and a light flush stained his own cheeks with colour at the memory.

Surprisingly, Sasuke had not retaliated but he hadn't had to; Naruto had knocked himself out when he tried to draw on his nonexistent chakra to form a rasengan. When he came to some minutes later, it was to find that his wrists had been bound with some kind of rope that didn't budge at all. Amidst his panic, Sasuke had calmly told him to interrogate him until he was satisfied that he was the real deal. A wave of questions had thereafter followed, reluctantly because they pained Naruto, but Sasuke had answered them flawlessly. Every mission, every memory...it was all spoken of almost reverently when called upon. That in itself was enough to shock Naruto, since Sasuke had always been so determined to sever everything. But here were memories, bared as though they hadn't been banished from the minds of two, and occasionally a couple more people.

He was Sasuke, of that Naruto was sure. But...

More questions bubbled at the top of his throat. He flat out refused to voice them. There were already enough bridges to cross as it was before getting to that particular one.

Sasuke touched a finger to his blackened cheek. "It's nothing," he said dismissively. He was watching him like a hawk and it unnerved Naruto, a feeling that he had rarely felt with the other. He actually felt his breath skip a beat when he glanced away for a second for respite, only to see bright red sharingan eyes boring through him when he looked back. "Do you feel tired?" Sasuke asked in a low voice when he breathed in sharply. "Does anywhere hurt?"

He hesitated but shook his head, and offered a strained smile. "I'm...kinda hungry, though," he eventually said sheepishly, letting Sasuke gather his own analysis on his chakra.

Sasuke's lips thinned as he inspected Naruto, looking particularly displeased when his sharingan roved over his stomach and the seal.

Naruto bit the inside of his mouth, wondering what changes Sasuke could see with those eyes of his. A moment of panic arose when he considered that Sasuke might be questioning _his_ identity now, before he hastily reassured himself that the Kyuubi should be sufficiently impossible to replicate proof of who he was. He wasn't quite sure if he would pass his own interrogation at the moment. His discord was for naught though when Sasuke turned on his heel after the short, physical examination. Naruto watched the Uchiha walk back to the grove at the very edge of the forest. For the first time, he noticed the small pile of clothing, scrolls and weapon pouches that littered the base of a large tree. There was even a bundle that looked like a folded up tent.

"Stay here."

He startled at the stern command and cast an incredulous look at the dark haired man.

"What?"

Sasuke extracted his kusanagi from the pile on the grass. Looping the latch onto his belt, he cast him a warning glare over his shoulder, eyes back to onyx.

"I said, stay here," he repeated, and with that he stalked off into the forest, disappearing almost immediately like a shadow dispersing into darkness.

Naruto was left alone.

A combination of annoyance and relief immediately washed over him with the abrupt solitariness. The feeling of abandonment, he did not allow to even surface. He had to get his own bearings first before he could handle anyone else and looking into the water once more at his reflection, he was still taken aback to see a stranger. It would take some getting used to. He willed his features to set into something of the kind that he had worn when his younger self would be plotting a prank, more difficult to do than expected when his facial muscles turned out to be half asleep. It ended up as a disturbingly perverse expression instead and he gave up mulishly, looking back after the direction that Sasuke had gone instead.

Sasuke.

He tensed again.

_And then we'll fight, go back, laugh together...**live**._

This Sasuke was so different to the teenage Sasuke that it disturbed him, but even so he had no right to say anything because in a way, it was almost like his greatest wish had been granted. Here was a Sasuke seemingly without vengeance plaguing his every thought, and if Naruto had to seriously consider what he would have been like if they had ever returned to the village together, then the current, mature one could actually match any expectations that he would have come up with. He was obviously still silently laboured with more than a few mental scars that left him more withdrawn than the usual person, but ultimately he was more whole than before. It had to be a good thing...right?

As long as it didn't disappear.

He used the pain of his fingernails digging into his palms to ground himself.

He looked around. Sasuke had told him to stay but he couldn't honestly expect him to listen. What was he supposed to do? Sit around and twiddle his thumbs while musing on how he should feel after waking up from a seven year slumber? Naruto didn't need that (look where it was getting him already), and he hoped Sasuke didn't think so either. But then again, the Uchiha was being unnaturally accomodating and that spoke for itself. He bristled in annoyance. In the past, he certainly would not let Sasuke underestimate him and get away with it. He would have already been long gone by now, off over some hill just so Sasuke could come find and scold him.

He considered it briefly, fingers and thumb on chin thoughtfully, before nodding once determinedly to himself. If Sasuke was willing to leave him here, chakra-less and –loathe as he was to admit it –vulnerable, then the vicinity at least must be safe enough for him to wander.

He strode off in the opposite direction to the grove, ignoring his hunger and accompanying weariness that urged him to wait for food. The pools continued to light his way like gentle beacons, their blue glow illuminating a winding path as his sandaled feet stepped lightly over pieces of tile, assumedly from the broken fountains. For some reason the light made him feel comfortable, a stark relief from the tenseness around Sasuke. He made a point of zig-zagging from pool to pool, inspecting the seals that created the light with an appreciation of the simplicity that absorbed sunlight by day and re-emitted it when the sun had gone down.

It was no wonder that he had mistaken this place for a figment of his imagination. It was unlike anything that he had ever seen before, and there was an entirely surreal quality pervading this strange world. Only Sasuke's presence allowed him to think otherwise.

He walked for awhile in the dimness, dallying at the pools, before he bothered to pay more attention to the dark hills that loomed behind them. They got larger in size the further on he went, and were covered with all sorts of debris, things like abandoned scraps of wood, metal and the occasional shred of cloth. Many people must have traversed this place in the past, he thought absently, taking into consideration just how long the lighted path in front of him seemed to stretch. A little while later, he noticed that the hills seemed quite hollow in places, the light reaching into deep pits and troughs.

Passing between two pools, he jumped up onto one of the hills curiously and let out a cry of shock as the entire mound collapsed beneath him straightaway. He only just managed to stay upright by windmilling his arms as a cloud of dust and dirt went flying up, making him splutter and spit ruefully from his mouth while balancing himself on a plank of wood. Wincing at the strain the sudden movements had had on his muscles, he straightened. In that moment, he realised that he was surrounded not by stony hills, but by mounds of debris.

He hurriedly leapt from the pile and back onto clear ground. His skin prickled as he crouched over and examined the closest collection of twisted wood and metal carefully, noticing for the first time the aged, bloody stains of violence and murder that stained the floor as well.

Swallowing, he lifted his head and got to his feet, doing a complete 360 and finally identifying the surrounding landscape for what it was. By night it was difficult to confirm but now that his eyes had adjusted, the resemblance to Konoha after Pein's attack was there. He took a step back from the rubble.

He was standing in the middle of a destroyed city.

_**Reality.** _

_Where is Sasuke?_

Something suddenly roared furiously in his mind and gasping, he dropped to his knees. The broken tiles easily cut through the thin, black material covering his kneecaps but he ignored them in favour of addressing a more prominent ache. His head dropped against the impending headache and his hands gripped his hair as the newly awake Kyuubi began roaring something barely intelligible from within its prison, its rage beyond anything he had felt before. Eventually, he pieced together what it was saying and gritted his teeth. Against all instinct that told him to curl up and nurse his throbbing head, he stumbled to his feet and back the way that he had come from.

He didn't make it very far before a pair of hands and a familiar scent descended upon him from behind, holding him steady by the upper arms. There was the sound of several objects thumping lightly to the ground and looking, he saw some oddly shaped fruits rolling where they had landed.

"You never listen do you?"

Wincing, he turned his head and glared furiously up at Sasuke's obsidian eyes, struggling to stay standing without letting the other completely support him. He was so angry that if he could, he would have given the bastard another bruise to mirror the first one.

"You used the sharingan on me," he hissed, trying to pull away. Within, the Kyuubi growled in outrage at the presence of an Uchiha.

Sasuke appeared surprised for a split second, eyebrows rising by millimetres, but then it quickly disappeared.

"I did," he confessed.

"Why?"

"To get us here."

Naruto's face twisted in confusion and pain, catching another glimpse of the view behind Sasuke. "And 'here' is?"

"Whirlpool," Sasuke answered without skipping a beat.

Naruto's eyes widened in recognition and then Sasuke had turned him around, tugging his chin with rough fingers and making him look clearly at the destroyed city once more. "With your chakra and blood," he explained levelly, "I took us to the only place that Madara cannot access freely. At least, not with his space time jutsu."

Naruto's breathing caught and became difficult as his chin was released and he saw the landscape with new vision. The occasional splatter of white dots would materialise when his head throbbed behind his eyes but against the backdrop of the night sky, he could now recognise the silhouettes of fallen, stone towers that spiked out in places from the hills, as well as the occasional metallic glint that he'd mistaken for reflecting water but which was actually coming from broken signs and twisted foundations. He trembled, disbelieving that he had been waltzing amongst those ruins so contentedly just minutes ago.

"This…this is…?"

His eyes almost dropped out of his head when Sasuke's hands tightened their hold and he was jerked forwards into an unmistakeable embrace, the decidedly weird atmosphere from before returning in a rush of heat. It wasn't like the suffocating hugs that he himself used to give Iruka, but more... controlled. One arm encircled both of his upper-arms and the other held the length of his shoulders comfortably, barely exerting any pressure at all. Almost as though Sasuke didn't dare to put anything more into it.

"Sa—Sasuke," Naruto stuttered, turning beet red with hands coming up to grip Sasuke's arms awkwardly. "What – Uh...?"

"If you can't even handle this one city, I don't know how you're supposed to deal with everything else."

Ice filled Naruto's veins at the barely veiled warning. Nightmares that he'd thought he had evaded came back one after the other to mock him. He pushed against Sasuke's chest, Sasuke's arms sliding off his in the process. Distance was good, because the touch was deceiving him.

_Twisting reality._

"What do you mean?" He grabbed the front of Sasuke's shirt harshly and looked up at him. "Sasuke, what exactly happened while I was gone?" That expressionless face was ever harder to read than in the past, giving nothing away.

"What you are probably imagining, and worse." Sasuke ran a hand through Naruto's hair, in what was probably meant to be a comforting gesture. "You will see in due course."

Naruto searched his eyes, for the first time noticing a tint of grey at the edges. "Are you hiding something from me?"

Kyuubi roared in response to Naruto's distress and Sasuke's closeness. Flinching, Naruto lifted a hand to his head, knocking Sasuke's hand away. Sasuke lowered it slowly back to his side but did not offer a reply to his question.

"Well? Why aren't you saying anything? What aren't you telling me?" Naruto asked through clenched teeth. Inside his mind, he promised the fox lethally that he would get him back for this rebellion. The Kyuubi only sneered.

"It is difficult to explain. You're still tired. Now is hardly the time." Sasuke's lips thinned, signalling that he would not reveal anything without a fight, one that he knew Naruto was in no condition to win. Naruto growled, echoing Kyuubi.

"Just tell me!"

"No."

Naruto glared at him. That familiar anger that had so often been directed at Sasuke as genin was back in full throttle. Knowing that he was in no condition to win a fight, he guessed that he would just have to get his way like back then, too.

"Fine," he spat out stubbornly and with resolution. "Even if you won't tell me, I can still find out myself."

With sheer, reckless will.

He took several shaky steps away from Sasuke and closed his eyes, concentrating with difficulty on his surroundings to try and draw out the natural, positive energy. He found some almost straightaway in the immediate area, but it was not enough to achieve the level of tracking and sensory that he was after to reach his goal. Frowning, he searched further, ignoring the other sounds around him.

"Naruto, stop –"

It hit him with all the power of a raging, screaming tempest.

_Hatred. Fear. Grief._

It hurt so much. The pain overwhelmed him, the pain of hundreds upon thousands of souls crying for lost days and fading hope. The forlornness of the elderly. The loss of livelihood for a current generation that clung pitifully to the final shreds of life. The lack of understanding by the young ones whose futures were so absent and without guidance at all that it was hard to see why they had been brought into this world to begin with_. _Behind it all, there was an insurmountable wall of terror, escapable only through death. Negative power was all that he could find the more that he attempted to tap into his sage mode. He choked on sobs.

Somewhere in between his thrashing on the hard ground and the Kyuubi's cruel cackles of sudden delight, Naruto felt a warm hand grip his own. He clutched to it like a lifeline, refusing to let go, drawing the warm body closer to his own and not caring about which reality it was anymore, so long as it was _his_. Hot tears were streaking down his cheeks, relentless in their attempt to wash away the suffering that he had selfishly avoided but allowed the rest of the world to take in his place. Despite it all, he was determined to keep at least that one warmth with him, sanity or not.

* * *

><p><em><strong>I'm sorry for pulling you into my darkness.<strong>_

* * *

><p>The next time that Naruto woke up, he knew exactly where he was. Knew also who he was with, and what he had to do. His chest felt heavier than before but his mind was clearer now that the reality had been established.<p>

_Madara is still alive_.

Sheets slid down as he sat up and he pressed his wrist against his forehead, thankful that the Kyuubi had stopped its racket but still feeling the lingering shadows of the migraine that it had created. Sadistic fox, he cursed it. A savoury, enticing smell tickled his nostrils and opening his eyes a crack, he saw Sasuke sitting next to a fireplace some metres away, slowly cooking what appeared to be a small fowl over the flames. It was still night so he mustn't have been out for very long, and his hunger from before came back with a vengeance.

He was sure that Sasuke had sensed him rise and he settled with his legs pulled up to his chest beneath the sheets, wrapping his arms around his knees with his cheek propped on them as he watched Sasuke roast the meal. After a few minutes of absent thoughts he realised that he was much more focused on Sasuke than on the fowl and he looked away. A small collection of fruits on a thin, linen cloth beside him caught his attention instead and he picked one up, rolling the brilliant red morsel between his fingers.

"You should eat those first," Sasuke spoke up suddenly. His eyes moved sideways to look at Naruto. "I'm almost done here."

Naruto didn't know whether to be mortified or not. Sasuke had almost definitely known that he was staring the entire time.

"…Okay."

He lifted the strange, elliptical-shaped fruit to his lips and his eyes widened with the first bite that he took. Even though the memory of food remained fresh in his mind, his body had forgotten it. The sweet, slightly acidic juice tantalizing his tongue was like an entirely new experience and he dug into the rest of the pile eagerly.

Sasuke came over with the fowl speared on a stick just as he had popped the last berry into his mouth. Naruto took it from him gratefully and tore into the savoury meat straightaway, not really giving a care as to how unrefined he was being. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was a bit embarrassed about Sasuke watching the ravenous way that he was eating, but he supposed that anybody who had been privy to his ramen habits could not mind all that much. At that thought, a sudden craving for the noodles made itself known but he quashed it. This was plenty good enough for now.

Sasuke moved around while he ate and he was more comfortable with eating like a starved man while the Uchiha took the cloth that had held the fruits and went off to rinse it. When Sasuke came back, he lay the cloth on the ground next to the rucksacks before tending to the fireplace and hanging up some garments to air out near the side of the grove. Naruto amused himself by thinking that there was a domestic aura surrounding Sasuke as he completed these tasks before sitting down beside him again.

When he was done and rubbing his tummy in satisfaction, he threw the stick and remaining carcass into the flames with an under-arm toss, thrilled that his strength had partially returned and that the action was effortless. He wiped his mouth and hands on the napkin that Sasuke had passed over to him before listening intently as the raven began speaking.

"I didn't want you to know yet," Sasuke said as he stoked the fire, "about what's going on out there." Dropping the stick into the flame, he moved and sat down closer to Naruto.

Naruto managed to smile at him, for now locking the acute pain away.

"I can take it, Sasuke," he responded, remembering that the other was underestimating him. "I guess I was hoping for Madara to be gone by old age or whatever by the time I returned, but I'm glad now that I'm back. I never imagined that it would get this bad."

"I thought so." Sasuke stared at him curtly and Naruto hesitated a bit, unsure what was going through the other's mind. There suddenly seemed to be tension in the air and he didn't like that. That had never turned out well.

"You know," he said hastily, "I'd much rather you tell me everything now, than find out later from other people."

He watched as Sasuke reached out a hand to him and felt the gentle motions as fingers stroked his hair back again. He found himself leaning into the large hand on instinct, and he explained to himself that it was because he craved human contact again.

"I don't intend for many people to have that chance."

Naruto blinked, processing that sentence. Then, docile thoughts shoved aside, he grabbed Sasuke's wrist and pried the hand from his hair, keeping it still.

"Sasuke," he uttered lowly, "I'm not a _pet_."

"I never said you were."

"But you're treating me like one!"

"You're just overthinking things."

Naruto peered at him suspiciously. Then dismissing it, he sighed and let go of Sasuke's wrist. "Okay then. What's the plan?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "For?"

"You know." Naruto waved his arms in exasperation. "To kill Madara, Kabuto. Make everything right in the world again."

They needed a plan, because that was a pretty damn big 'everything' that they were looking at.

"I wasn't aware that there was a plan for that."

"Eeeh! But you always have one for everything!" he exclaimed.

"No." Sasuke levelled his gaze upon him seriously. "I had a plan to get you out of there," he said firmly. "I had a plan to keep you away for as long as necessary. I also may or may not have a plan to kill Madara so that he doesn't get any chances in the future. But it is not and never was my problem what happens to _them_."

"But I thought you said –"

"I said you won, _Naruto_," Naruto shuddered at his name, having not been aware of just how much he wanted to hear the other say it, "but all you proved is that I care for you more than I should. That is all."

Naruto's faltered and then his cheeks flared up. He was sure that he was doing his mother's brilliant hair proud.

"That—that isn't what I–"

"Cat got your tongue, dead last?"

"Don't call me that bastard!"

Sasuke smiled derisively. "Really, you haven't changed that much at all." He ruffled Naruto's hair again, mockingly like their sensei used to do.

"Don't treat me like a kid, either," Naruto snapped, knocking it away.

Sasuke lunged at him, and Naruto yelled out in alarm a split second before he was pinned to the ground. Recovering from the surprise attack, he looked up at the raven that had taken up a comfortable perch above him, knees on the ground either side of his waist.

"So maybe I was lying about that." Sasuke smirked, the expression somehow even more arrogant now that he was an adult.

"You—get off!" Naruto exclaimed, flushing and more than aware how this position could be interpreted thanks to Konohamaru. He could never look at two wrestling males the same way again because of that brat.

"Fight me."

"Wha –"

"Or are you still just a scaredy-cat?"

Gritting his teeth, he lifted his hand to repeat the vicious punch from earlier, not really caring how hard he hit because as far as he was concerned, the jerk deserved it. Sasuke was ready for it this time however, and both of his wrists were slammed back down onto the grass before he had even formed a fist. Blinking, he tried lifting them back up but it seemed that Sasuke had at some point overrode him in brute strength, holding them there easily and shoving a knee painfully into his stomach to stop any attempts to buck and knock him off. He wheezed a bit. Damn, Sasuke had gotten heavy.

Snarling, he called on the demon's chakra cloak instead, feeling it bubble up in a red shroud through his skin that began to burn at Sasuke's smooth skin as well. Seeing this, he moderated it so that he would not transform. He didn't exactly want to give Sasuke any mortal injuries, no matter how annoyed he was. Knocking that smug look off his face would be quite enough

He made the mistake of tilting his head slightly though, and ended up looking straight into the other's sharingan. He instantly knew his mistake as the red shroud began melting away quickly, taking his strength with it and dissolving into nothingness in the air. In horror, he felt as the demon's chakra was suppressed to a place that he couldn't touch. His own chakra levels still remained too low to use and he was weapon-less. Sasuke's head was sadly too far away to headbutt. Tapping into sage mode was out of the question and there was absolutely nothing else that he had at his disposal, number one most surprising ninja or not.

With a gulp, he realised that he had just lost to Sasuke with a speed that had not happened since they were paired up in the Academy.

"I can't have you using that," Sasuke said, simpering.

Naruto swallowed. "That's completely unfair. When did you…?"

Sasuke leaned down close to him, eye to eye with only a couple of inches separating their faces. Naruto felt the hands on his wrists slide up to his palms and slender fingers intertwined with his against the ground. His raging blush returned once more and he released a shuddering breath that moved through Sasuke's hair, his heart feeling like it wanted to jump out from his ribcage.

"What was _your_ plan?" Sasuke murmured silkily. "Did you even have one?" Naruto could hardly process the question, struggling to keep his breathing steady, so much more difficult now for some reason. Unfortunately, he did manage to understand it.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said in quick succession, averting his eyes.

Sasuke so knew.

Sasuke's face was lowering and Naruto began to panic. Eyes so dark that he could drown in their depths filled his vision. He saw it coming, but that didn't prepare him any more for the moment that Sasuke pressed their lips together again, the contact warm and assuring.

His protests were swallowed up and Sasuke disconnected one of their hands so that he could grip Naruto's chin, pulling it up to deepen the kiss as Naruto gasped to breathe around the connection. Was it possible to die of asphyxiation via kiss? He wasn't all that eager to find out. Sasuke's tongue was in his mouth and all he could think about was that he had another _man's_ saliva going down his throat.

Eventually he realised that one of his hands had been freed and he lifted it, prepared to give Sasuke a swift, solid swing. But something had changed and there was now a desperation in the lips attacking his own. Those dark eyes were still on his and they would not let him punch the other on a guilt-free conscience. Instead, his half raised fist lowered and a thumb stroked his cheek, coaxing him to relax and surrender.

Confused, he hesitantly stopped struggling, not understanding why the thought of hurting Sasuke right now was somehow abhorrent to him. The tongue in his mouth twined with his and he fumbled weakly to answer the passion that he found, so unfamiliar and unbelievable. Something profoundly raw and obvious was being conveyed to him and Naruto found that in that moment, he didn't have it in him to reject it.

Was this his fault, he thought, chest aching as his free hand held onto Sasuke's shoulder and gripped tightly to it instead. Was he the one that had created this desperate, fragile creature, broken over so many times that the next time, fixing might no longer be an option?

Eventually Sasuke pulled away, a thin trail of saliva breaking between their swollen lips as both panted for breath. Naruto immediately felt horrible when he saw the forlorn sadness in black eyes and he pulled the other back down again, wrapping his arms around him as he buried his face into Sasuke's collar. Sasuke hung there laxly, letting the blonde hold him.

Sasuke _so_ knew.

"I'm sorry," Naruto whispered. "Fuck, Sasuke, I'm so sorry."

"Just don't do something so stupid again," Sasuke said quietly in his ear.

"I know."

"No more games or lies."

"No –"

"Or I'll never forgive you."

Sasuke pulled Naruto's arms away and lifted himself off of him. The two of them sat across from each other again.

Naruto bit his lip. "I didn't want to put you through all of this," he said, not sure if he wanted Sasuke to believe his next words or not. "I had hoped, but I didn't really believe that you would stay with me for so long," he admitted.

"It wasn't your fault." Sasuke snorted self deprecatingly. "It was mine. If I had realised sooner then maybe you wouldn't have done something so idiotic as seal yourself away. But I guess that makes us even now. You chased after me for all those years."

Naruto wasn't humoured and he fixed an unusually serious face on the other. "Very funny, Sasuke. You and I both know how to count. Seven years. Nothing can return the time that I stole from you."

"Then what do you want me to do? Demand that you pay your debt? I'm quite happy with the current arrangement as it is, actually."

Reaching over, Sasuke pulled another duvet from where it was sitting closer to the fireplace and lay it out by Naruto's side as the blonde sank back onto his own and contemplated.

"That's messed up," he muttered finally. "That shouldn't be how we work."

Sasuke grunted in his throat as he settled down on his back, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

"I don't want us to run on a debt between us, Sasuke," Naruto said. He hesitated. "I think you understand what I'm talking about."

"You're worried that I'll want you to stay with me when everything's over?" Sasuke interpreted. "You think that I won't let you go back to Konoha?" His voice dropped. "Or perhaps, you're afraid that one day, you'll be laying next to a woman and yet you'll still be wondering where I am?"

Naruto's lips thinned and he shook his head violently. "That's not it," he said harshly. "You're important to me. No matter what happens in the future, you'll still be there somehow."

"I don't know." Sasuke closed his eyes. "I like the idea of you being indebted to me more. At least that way, no matter who you're with, you'll still owe me first and foremost."

"You're speaking as though you love me," Naruto whispered.

Sasuke didn't answer for so long that Naruto thought he might have fallen asleep, almost thankful that he didn't know what would be said. He had no idea what had possessed him to say that, he was being ridiculous. But when Sasuke did suddenly reply, murmuring confidently and without opening his eyes, Naruto felt the first chain of the unpaid debt lash itself excruciatingly around his heart.

"This time it took you _years_, dead-last." A chuckle. "Go to sleep."

Naruto pulled his head onto the nook of his arm and closer to the other male. "How can you be so sure?" he asked almost desperately, _afraid_ of what else he could have possibly stolen from Sasuke. "That what you feel is…you know? Couldn't you have just mistaken something else for it?"

Sasuke snorted. "Like my feelings for my brother?" he tossed out.

"It could be completely platonic," Naruto reasoned, thinking of his own emotions back then.

"Remember that I've had years to think over this."

He fell silent. What was he supposed to say to that? He couldn't insult seven years of sacrifice.

"It's the same with you, and it'll only be a matter of time before you realise," Sasuke continued calmly, voice definitely starting to drift, "and now that your time has started moving again, we'll get there soon enough." Sasuke's breathing evened out as he slipped into sleep.

He was so confident, Naruto thought distantly, looking over him. He pulled back to his own sheets, eyes staying on him, and he was unable to help but notice the shadows beneath Sasuke's eyes that he hadn't seen before. He was warmed to know that the dark-haired male was comfortable enough around him to let his guard down so much when obviously, he had been going through hell and high water beforehand with Madara still out there.

Laying down on his back on his own bedding with a heavier feeling in his chest than when he'd awoken, he folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the sky. He asked himself, would he do the same for this man? If their positions had been reversed, could he give up not just his life, but forsake the sweet release of death for the sake of the other? After all, Naruto was sure that the worst pain was not death, but being denied something in life.

"Maybe…" he murmured, and then he thought about it from another angle.

_No matter who you're with in the future…_

He stiffened.

…_it'll always be me on your mind, first and foremost._

He blinked a few times, as though whatever had just crossed his mind could be blinked away. Then with a groan he turned over and buried his face into the sheets stubbornly. It was much too early to be thinking about this and he made a firm point to count spiral-decorated ramen bowls as he sank into sleep.

* * *

><p>When he woke up the next morning, the house rules were set up plainly and without negotiation. They came to him over the remains of the fireplace as Sasuke passed over a breakfast of fish, the Uchiha having woken up earlier to hunt. It made Naruto feel rather useless and lazy, and the rules that followed didn't do anything to abate that.<p>

Simply put, he would not do anything to annoy Sasuke. He would not attempt to wander around by himself, and he most definitely would not use any jutsu whatsoever that may threaten to blow up the barrier surrounding Whirlpool. Sasuke had obviously made the restrictions as broad as possible so that he could not find loopholes in them. Naruto was sure that something as trivial as leaving his futon unfolded in the morning would happily get him a sharp whack on the back of his head.

Not annoying Sasuke was clearly impossible. He had only to stare at Sasuke with an 'are you serious?' expression and protest loudly about the latter two rules before Sasuke's glare was focused upon him again. Sasuke may have perfected that look, but Naruto wasn't about to back down just because the other was now officially older and larger. He proceeded to throw another tantrum about almost being an adult anyway and that Sasuke should stop trying to parent him. The first rule was consequently thrown out the window and Naruto spent the rest of his first day with the living by sulking on the top of a cliff overlooking the sea (thereby breaking the second rule).

It seemed that growing older wasn't only for show though, because Sasuke came at nightfall to attempt a reconciliation, promises of food and being less strict rolling off his tongue. Such a level of maturity from a man whose stubbornness had once encompassed the entire five great nations was mind boggling, and a rather bedazzled Naruto ended up following him back to the campsite without much complaint.

When his chakra returned a few days later, however, there was also no way that he would sit down and let his shinobi skills rust. He practised taijutsu first, which was perfectly fine by Sasuke until a colossal mountain of debris collapsed somewhere near their sleeping area, sending dust everywhere and forcing them to move their campsite further inland. After that Sasuke agreed to spar with him and slowly but surely, Naruto felt his previous ease of movement return to him. Even though the other didn't say anything, Naruto was sure that Sasuke enjoyed the spars just as much as he did. When he thought about it, Sasuke was actually dealing with him better nowadays, and very rarely did they descend into serious arguing. They would spend hours attacking and blocking each other, testing new manoeuvres and getting back into the habit of old ones. Naruto was fascinated by some of the weapons that Sasuke had collected on his travels and borrowed a few to experiment with. In the end, he kept a kodachi blade as his own after Sasuke had seen how much of a liking he took to it.

He also had to get used to his longer hair, and being admittedly clumsy, he had already managed to yank on it several times when drawing weapons or twisting. He was more than a bit perturbed when after one such training session of it getting in the way, he indicated his desire to cut it off and Sasuke had objected. No vehemence whatsoever. Just a simple denial, as though that settled it and Naruto could not disobey. He grumbled but ended up only trimming off the last few inches so that it didn't get in the way of him opening his weapons pouch. He could always just pass it off as something he'd done in honour of Jiraiya's own long ponytail. Definitely not just because Sasuke preferred his hair long or something weird like that.

When it came to jutsu however, the two of them completely disagreed on what was reasonable. Sasuke told him that anything more than simple transformations or a couple of kage bunshins would be enough for Naruto's chakra to seep through the protective barriers and give them away. Naruto pronounced that he had already inspected the seals etched into the shores of the island and that they were strong enough for him to unleash at least a few tails and even some rasenshuriken without anything breaking. He never ended up going quite that far though, capping his ninjutsu at an odama rasengan at the most. Sasuke could be such an old man sometimes.

More than anything, he was overwhelmingly relieved that the two of them living together was not as awkward as he had expected it to be, especially with the way that Sasuke's feelings were going (and those, thankfully, he did not yet have to address). It almost felt like they were camping out during missions again, except without the constant fear of being ambushed. But after a week of peaceful routine, of hunting and exploring and sparring and spending time with each other talking of simple things that did not go beyond the island's boundaries, Naruto had the nagging suspicion that Sasuke had another, ulterior motive.

"When are we going back?"

It was night again and they had just finished their meal. The two of them had been talking about the best places on the island to hunt when Naruto randomly asked the question that had been popping up in his mind the past few days, ever since his health had all but fully recovered. Sasuke glanced at him from the branch that he was on, a small scroll held open in his hands. He had been multi-tasking, reading while listening to Naruto hold what was mostly a one-sided conversation. Naruto looked up defiantly from the ground.

"Why are you so eager to go back?" Sasuke asked, turning back to his scroll. Naruto had been surprised to discover that it was not about any shinobi techniques whatsoever, but was something of a historical note documenting the Whirlpool Country's past.

He sighed and shifted, kicking a stone into the fire. "It's not like we can just stay here until whenever."

"I don't see why not," Sasuke answered disinterestedly. "Madara can't make any move towards here without us knowing about it beforehand."

"Sasuke…" The Uchiha tensed at the tone, "I want to do something."

Sasuke folded up the scroll in half, throwing it onto the grass before dropping down from the tree and walking over to him. Naruto didn't let the extra height faze him as he held his ground.

"When you can convince me that you know exactly what you're doing," Sasuke breathed softly, "then we will leave."

"How can I make a plan when I don't even know what's going on?" he protested loudly. "I know absolutely nothing about Madara's strengths and weaknesses at the moment and you won't tell me anything either."

"Can't you just trust me? We will go eventually, just not now."

"People are suffering and I'm useless here! It's almost as if I was never unsealed in the first place," he said desperately. "If I'm walking around but I can't do anything for anyone anyway, I might as well just go and disappear again before Madara comes searching himself."

"Don't say that," Sasuke groaned resignedly, displeased. His arms wrapped around Naruto's body again and Naruto allowed it wearily, resting his head against Sasuke's collarbone. "Don't leave."

"I…I won't." Not wanting to be persuaded, he sighed again and dislodged himself carefully, walking away from the still Uchiha. If there was one thing that he couldn't argue with Sasuke about, it was the delicate subject of when or if Naruto would leave him in the future. "I'm going to the scroll room," he said quietly, referring to the underground chamber filled with scrolls and papers that his clan had left behind.

As the firelight behind him disappeared and he made his way slowly down the hill and back to the city nearby, Naruto knew now that he had been right about Sasuke wanting to control him, to an extent. Sasuke was always finding ways to avoid or reword his questions, and he handled Naruto like he was something fragile. He had come to accept that Sasuke was probably accustomed to touching him familiarly after the past seven years but he wondered if the raven was consciously aware of how fiercely protective he had become, so much so that Naruto was suffocating beneath the pressure of being a useless child again.

_He probably doesn't realise_, he thought. _And I can't blame him, because I made him this way._

He paused at the mouth of the city, on the strip of broken tile and dirt that wound between the fountains. It didn't matter whether Sasuke did it for good or bad reasons. Naruto wasn't some animal that would be content with being kept on a small island, and he couldn't take much more of it. Being so dormant, locked on a decaying city away from a humanity that was suffering because of him, he couldn't help but feel like some…

"I'm not some object," he whispered to the air.

He felt so goddamn _weak_. And deep down, he felt even worse because he wasn't even brave enough to try and leave without the Uchiha. What was with that? He could just destroy the barrier and walk across the ocean if he had to. But no, he had promised, and he owed the Uchiha at least that much after the stunt that he had pulled. Stupid Sasuke, he thought bitterly. They were supposed to be rivals.

"We'll go back."

His breath hitched in surprise and he turned around quickly.

Sasuke had evidently followed him and was walking slowly towards him, the wind teasing his hair gently. Naruto pulled back a bit as Sasuke took one hand from his pocket and reached out, brushing the knuckles across Naruto's cheeks. Naruto flinched and he lowered his head to look at the ground, thoroughly humiliated when he saw the clear liquid wetting Sasuke's skin.

Sasuke lowered his hand. "I didn't know that it was worrying you that much." His lips curved up sadly at the edges. "But I guess that I don't have other people to care about back in Konoha."

Naruto wiped the tears messily away on his sleeve, trying to be as inconspicuous about it as possible. "Are you being serious," he asked with a sniff, but he was unable to hide how hopeful he sounded, "about going back?"

Sasuke nodded, and then he smirked and Naruto wished that he could wind back the past few minutes and erase the part with his crying pathetically. "You're going to feel worse when we get back, you know," Sasuke teased lightly.

"Yeah, I know. Shut up, bastard." Naruto let out a large breath and offered his own, strained grin. "There's nothing I can't handle though." It dropped and then he cast his eyes around the city. "If it's anything like this...well, I suppose I'll be a bit more prepared now. And if we were able to patch up Konoha back when Pein destroyed it, then we could definitely fix up all the other villages as well."

He looked around thoughtfully.

Suddenly, "I once thought that I could revive the Uchiha clan, as well," Sasuke said quietly.

"...And then you realised that girls weren't your thing?" Naruto said sneakily, unable to resist the opening.

Sasuke glared darkly at him and Naruto scratched his head with an apologetic grin. He waved his other hand at him to go on.

"My clan is gone," Sasuke said, "and no matter how much time I spent renovating the compound, some things will never return to the way they were. The people are gone." He raised his hand, staring at his own flesh. "The Uchiha name has been dragged through mud and I'll no longer try to revive it."

"Sasuke," Naruto hesitated, "are you still being hunted as a criminal? Did I make things worse?"

Sasuke seemed to think about something seriously for a few moments. "No. I don't think so." His smirk returned and he looked at him. "You can be sure that it'll be because of you if anyone comes after us."

"…That's nice to know." Naruto frowned. "I guess that means I really do need to get rid of Madara first if I ever want to go back to Konoha." He exhaled. "At the very least, I want to be able to step foot in Konoha again sometime before I die." He looked around again and gestured grimly. "Or before it becomes something like this."

Sasuke walked in front of him, blocking his view of the city, and he turned his head up warily. Although the other hadn't attempted any other surprise attacks as Naruto referred to them, he had the sneaking suspicion that the atmosphere at the moment was the kind that would lead to one. The Uchiha closed his eyes and Naruto suppressed his shock when they reopened to reveal a different sharingan to any of the ones he had seen thus far. The black pinwheel in the centre was much more larger and complicated than before.

"I'll explain later," Sasuke said when Naruto made to open his mouth and question him, "but for now, let me show you something."

Sasuke lowered his face a few inches so that their noses were almost touching. Naruto tried not to move away, but he still tilted his head back a few millimetres suspiciously, feeling sweat begin to form on his neck when Sasuke kept their eyes unnervingly locked. He was just about to send a flying kick at the Uchiha's knee when Sasuke blinked and pulled away. Naruto watched him do so in confusion.

"What was that all about?"

"Look." Sasuke jerked his head.

Frowning, Naruto looked past Sasuke to the city and the raven stepped to his side, out of the way. Naruto absently cast his gaze to where the piles of debris were and almost fell backwards in shock at what he saw. He looked up at the Uchiha disbelievingly, seeing a smug look spread across his face.

"My eyes are a curse," Sasuke said, lifting a hand to cover one of them, "but they can still show someone their greatest desire."

He turned his head and together, they watched a small, blue butterfly as it flew past and beyond it, a glowing, untouched city stretched up towards the night.

Spiralling towers, sparkling tiles and marble glinting with rainbows. Fountains and water jets that continued for as far as the eye could see.

People walked down perfectly paved streets, chattering and holding all arrays of exotic produce in their arms. Naruto stepped aside for the children that were running and laughing loudly as they dodged the water jets, making sure to jump in and splash every single pool that they passed. He dared to lift a hand, holding his breath until his fingers went right through a small arm.

"It's only an illusion," Sasuke reminded him, giving a passing family a sideways glance.

"No." Naruto shook his head slowly, staring forlornly at the playing children.

_It is the future._

_End of Chapter Six._

* * *

><p>(Claws from her zombie deathbed). Feeeedbaaaaack isssss luuuurrrveeeed. (Eats).<p> 


	8. Chapter 7

There's a few questions that came up from reviews last time and I thought I'd address these here.

From Saby A: _Will Naruto grow into his age? I feel sasuke is molesting a teen._ I think I'd approach this from the 'how much has Sasuke actually aged?' point of view. It's funny that this question comes now, because the prequel (yes, the prequel) will address a few themes, and that will be one of them. But mentality wise, they will cover that gap quite quickly.

Piro: _What's wrong with Naruto's seal?_ So far, all of Naruto's seal troubles I've talked about have just been Kyuubi being a horrible tenant that likes causing troubles.

Lastimosa: _Is there a definitive update time?_ (Nervous laugh). There was supposed to be. But then that crumbled to the ground. So no definitive update agenda.

**Disclaimer: **I'm getting there. (Write slave! - I mean. That's looking great Kishi)

* * *

><p><em>Even evil cannot wage a battle without the existence of good.<em>

_And so, does war begin once more._

**Beyond War**

By Om0cha

_**Chapter 7: The Sleepy Town**_

The rancid smell of decade old decay that rushed out from the darkness made Kakashi scrunch up his nose in distaste as the door to the underground dungeons was opened. Turning to the men that stood on the steps behind him, he waved a hand at the two ANBU that had accompanied him this far and they moved back up to stand guard, the relief evident in their body language. He took another step down into the dank corridor, pausing to wait as the heavy door slammed shut behind him. With its closure everything became so dark that he was forced to pull down the top of his mask and activate his other eye. An incessant dripping sounded and his path became clear.

Taking a deep breath, he began making his way down between the endless rows of cells, ignoring the way that his sandals stuck to and detached loudly from the floor with each step. He kept his eyes fixed ahead to avoid looking into any of the small, slitted gaps in the doors that he passed. Unlike the usual cells above the surface, these ones were fitted with armoured doors and stone and jutsu barriers, not the simple bars that any shinobi dangerous enough to be put down here could easily snap, even without chakra.

As it was, he was not aware of any prisoners that should be held down here at the moment. At least, not alive, and that was what Kakashi did not want to confirm to himself. Let the curses of the past Hokages die with them, he thought as he continued on, but do not allow them to come back and haunt the living.

As if sensing him approaching, one of the doors to the right and near the bend up ahead suddenly opened up, swinging inwards and casting a long strip of white light into the corridor. Sai's head poked out from the doorway and nodded at him when he had located his features in the darkness. The shadows were obvious beneath his eyes, even as he attempted a wry smile in his direction.

"How is she?" Kakashi asked when the door was closed behind them again. The sudden, artificial brightness was such that he was had to blink to get the white spots out of his vision. After taking a sweeping inspection of the room he pulled his mask back up over his sharingan now that it wasn't needed.

The eerie dripping of the corridor was replaced by the mechanical beeping and ticking of several machines, the sound not any more comforting. The whirring machines formed a 'U' shape around the pink-haired figure that lay limply on a bed in the centre of the room, hooked up to wires that snaked and coiled beneath the sheets from every side.

"She woke up about an hour ago," Sai informed him from where he still stood by the door. "She was clearer in the head this time, but she was still convinced that I was Sasuke."

"She attacked you again?" Kakashi asked grimly as he approached her.

"She tried to." Sai forced a smile and Kakashi pitied the effort. "Fortunately, Ino was still here and she sedated her. But because of that, it became too dangerous for her to go into Sakura's mind."

Kakashi's eyelids lowered sadly at the sight of his pupil, unconscious and defenceless on the bed. Sakura was not a woman that could normally be reconciled with the word 'delicate,' but that was what came to his mind right now. Going to her bedside while making sure to carefully avoid the wires, he ran a hand across her sweaty forehead, pushing away the messy fringe that had shifted out of its typical parting before moving down to lift her hand in his own.

"Did she say anything of importance this time?" He didn't like asking the question –it felt too much like Sakura really was a prisoner –but it was a necessary one.

"She did. She probably didn't mean to." Sai hesitated, watching them with an artist's sharp eye.

"She might have seen Naruto."

Kakashi stiffened, back and neck straightening. Slowly placing Sakura's hand back down gently, he turned his head to regard Sai. The newest addition to Team 7 seemed to be debating with himself over something, a light frown wrinkling the skin between his eyebrows as he thought over a memory not yet privy to Kakashi.

"Why do you think that?" Kakashi asked him seriously. It was enough that Sakura had found Sasuke –and Pakkun had been able to verify that upon recovering – but no living witness had _ever _sighted Naruto in the past 7 years. It was one of the reasons why they hadn't been able to completely dismiss the possibility that he had already died by Sasuke's hand.

"She was screaming at me to get away from Naruto," Sai answered in a lilting voice, "and at one point, she appeared to think that Ino was Naruto."

It seemed that being thought of as Sasuke still hit chords with Sai, Kakashi thought shrewdly.

"Did she say anything else?"

Sai shook his head. "No. But she was beating herself up about something and she wouldn't stop crying."

"I see…"

Kakashi looked back down at Sakura's pale face, troubled. He exhaled deeply. "Sai, could you please go and get Ino again?" he asked. "I would like her to wake Sakura up so that I can speak with her."

"I'll go." Sai nodded and left.

When the door had closed behind him with a soft click, Kakashi released a breath. He turned away from the locked entrance and his eyes went back to his only female student and trusted assistant.

"Sakura. I hope that you have a good explanation for this."

Green eyes opened suddenly, blinking in the bright light as dilated pupils attempted to adjust. And then Sakura was sitting up and pulling the wires from her wrists, ignoring the way that the beeping of the machines levelled out into a monotonous shrill as she leaned heavily against the wall and pillows behind her. The lifeless doll of moments before disappeared and became animated. She appeared to be extremely tired though and Kakashi worried about just how lucid her mind was. At least he knew that she wasn't under a genjutsu. He had checked for that the moment he entered the room.

"Damn it," Sakura muttered darkly, wincing and rubbing at the inside joint of her elbow beneath a white, baggy sleeve, "Ino always could mix up a strong batch of sedatives." As though only just remembering that he was there, she looked up at him wearily. She futilely attempted to moisten her dry, cracked lips with her tongue.

"Kakashi. I need to talk to you without anybody else here. Quickly," she said, her eyes flickering over to the door.

"I thought you trusted Sai?" Kakashi breathed out, disappointed on Sai's behalf.

"I do," Sakura replied guiltily, lowering her head in shame, "but at the moment I would prefer if everyone else thinks I'm insane." She sighed her frustration and beat a fist against the covers. "I messed up badly," she confessed ruefully. "I shouldn't have said anything when they found me."

Kakashi sat down on the bunched up sheets at the foot of the bed with his lower back pressed against the rails. He had the feeling that it would be better if he weren't standing for this conversation.

"So what you were saying when Sai's team picked you up…it was all true?" he asked carefully. "You really did see Sasuke? And Naruto?"

Sakura nodded grimly. Her eyes grew distant and her fingers clenched in the sheets beneath them as she spoke. "Sasuke was waiting for me. Naruto was seriously injured when I found them," she stated shortly as though reporting, but Kakashi didn't miss how some anger coloured her voice.

She took a quivering breath and started up again. "He was still so young," she whispered, almost in wonder. Her voice softened as she remembered. "He was just laying there, bleeding…"

Kakashi drew a sharp breath.

Sakura shook her head a few times as though to clear it. Her green eyes were intense again when she locked them onto his, trying to convey how important her next words were. Even so, her voice shuddered.

"Kakashi…Naruto's awake."

* * *

><p>Naruto kneeled thoughtfully over the scroll lain out on the barren shore, paying no heed to the way that the large, smooth stones dug into his knees and legs as he tried to concentrate on the black ink littering the parchment. His fingertips followed each complicated symbol as he passed it so that he wouldn't lose where he was on the ridiculously long scroll. Some metres behind him near the gently lapping waves, Sasuke stood looking out over the ocean, waiting patiently for him to decipher the contents of the space-time jutsu as the sun began to set on the horizon.<p>

"Okay," Naruto muttered, lifting his fingers from a character that he had been tracing for a minute now. He heard Sasuke move immediately in response and felt a tinge of pride in the thought that the other could place his complete confidence in him for this task, at least.

"This one should take us to the outskirts of a town around fifty miles West of Konoha," he informed him, his eyes darting over the relevant section that detailed the encoded destination. "That was a pretty deserted region, I think." This part was said with less confidence and he glanced meaningfully at Sasuke over his shoulder, trying to cover up the fact that Iruka's lessons on geography had all but vanished from his mind the hour after he was taught them. "Do you know if it's still like that?" he asked sheepishly.

"The last time I went anywhere near there was a long time ago," Sasuke responded as he walked towards him, "on a mission with you," he added. "It was remote back then."

Naruto's brow furrowed and he looked back down as he tried to recall the exact mission that Sasuke was talking about. Possibly one of those escort ones had taken them near there but there were far too many of those to be sure that he wasn't mixing a few missions into one. Sasuke still had an extremely impressive memory, he marvelled, only a little put out by it.

"In that case, I guess we'll just hope for the best," he said cheerily.

"What about the other ones?"

Sasuke tilted his head at the larger scroll lying beside the him, into which Naruto had sealed several other smaller scrolls that he had found potentially useful while digging around in the underground room.

"Same deal," Naruto said dismissively. He picked up the scroll, spinning it between the fingers of one hand before catching it in his palm. "I think that they all lead to pretty obscure and out of the way places. Whoever used these techniques probably didn't want to risk being ambushed. It'd be stupid for them to pick populated locations," he pointed out.

"Your brain seems to function inexplicably better when it comes to seals," Sasuke remarked unhelpfully.

Naruto threw him a narrow-eyed glare and lobbed a kunai at Sasuke's inattentive face. He looked back down before it was intercepted, knowing that Sasuke could catch it easily. It wasn't returned to him, however, and the clicking of a weapons pouch being opened told him that Sasuke had kept it. They were rather low on kunai at the moment, what with Sasuke having had to divide his original supply between the both of them.

Reaching behind and finding the clasp on his belt between his new kodachi and weapon's pouch, he attached the larger scroll to the back of his pants, hiding it beneath his cloak and moving his hair out of the way as he did. He had decided that it would be best to keep his ponytail hidden beneath his cloak whenever possible. It would make it harder for it to get in his way if they had to fight, which, according to Sasuke, would not be happening anytime soon.

"Right. Are we ready to go?" he asked when he was done, already lifting his hands eagerly in a seal. His chakra bubbled just as restlessly in sync with with his own excitement, waiting to be called upon again.

"Not yet."

He dropped his hands dramatically. Letting out an exasperated groan, he jumped to his feet, boots crunching loudly on the stones as he span around.

"We've been hanging around here for hours," he accused. It was already nearing sunset and the tide had even come in so close that in an hour or so, they would be standing _in _the ocean.

His eyes crossed as Sasuke held up a small, glass jar close in front of his face, shaking it once so that the white pills inside rattled. Frowning, he took it from him and rotated it in his hand until he could see the salmon pink label on it, blank except for a single word at the bottom right corner that read in neat handwriting, 'Chakra.'

"What's this?" he asked, bewildered. "I've never heard of chakra replenishing tablets before."

"Idiot. They don't replenish chakra," Sasuke said, leaning forward and tapping the container gently. "I tested one. It changes your chakra signature and will stop anyone from identifying us."

Naruto's eyes boggled and his jaw dropped. He lifted the jar slowly above eye level like some holy artefact.

"Are you serious? People can actually do things like this now?" he exclaimed. "And hey, you're the idiot! Who the hell tests substances on themselves?" he accused back, lips twitching.

He was a glutton for abuse, wasn't he, he thought sombrely. If being called names by Sasuke was actually becoming some twisted sort of comfort.

"I used to train with snakes. Like any poison could harm me," Sasuke scoffed and Naruto just rolled his eyes in response. Once an over-confident bastard, always an over-confident bastard.

Holding the jar in one hand, he popped the plastic lid off with his thumb, catching it in his other palm.

"How many do I take and how long will it last for?" he asked, shaking a few of the tablets onto the lid and examining their powdery dusting curiously.

"One tablet took three days to clear from my system but it might take less for you because of the Kyuubi."

"Don't say his name!" Naruto yelped suddenly, cringing in anticipation.

Sure enough, the demon inside him responded to Sasuke's utterance of its title by thrashing violently beneath the tori gates that Naruto had reconstructed a few days ago. True to his word, the free space available to the fox's tails was a bit less than it had used to be once the gates were standing strong again. He suspected that the fox was now intending to make him suffer in equal kind by causing enough mental pain so that he willingly left Sasuke and went on his own, Uchiha-less path. As if Naruto Uzumaki would break a promise over something like that.

"He _really_ hates you," he forced through gritted teeth, glaring at Sasuke and trying to somehow impart his pain. Didn't mean that he wouldn't whine about it though.

That statement seemed to be enough to acquiesce the beast slightly and steeling himself, he opened his mouth and popped one of the white tablets in quickly, swallowing it dry. Offering the lid to Sasuke and sticking his tongue out at the bitter taste –who was he kidding, it tasted unexpectedly foul– he watched the Uchiha take one and do the same. His eyes followed the movement of Sasuke's throat as the pill went down.

Shaking himself a bit, he let Sasuke put the container away before he grabbed his hand –ignoring how the other squeezed back – and pulled the taller male down so that they were both crouched over the seal. In the back of his mind he mused that Sasuke, a 24 year old man with a penchant for being disagreeable, was allowing himself to be pushed around rather easily. He filed that away a bit gleefully for use in the most likely distant future.

"Alright! We're leaving!" he announced. Lifting his head, he took one last glance at the glowing pools beyond the mist before lowering his face again. He would definitely be returning once everything else was sorted out.

Releasing Sasuke's hand, he raced through a few seals and held his fingers together in a triangular shape to finish. When the black ink on the parchment began glowing, he bit his thumb to draw blood and dripped it onto the blank area in the centre of the parchment. The sacrifice was instantly absorbed and hastily, he grabbed Sasuke's right hand in his left again, his other hand coming up in a two fingered seal. His chakra flowed from him in dizzying, visible waves of blue and the wound that he had dripped blood from seemed to burn as the jutsu reached out, securing the link.

Everything went blinding white.

…

"Eugh—mmph!"

Sasuke clapped a gloved hand over Naruto's mouth, stopping the loud exclamation that the younger had released on instinct. He fought to smother his own expression of distaste as he took in their surroundings.

"Be quiet!" he hissed lowly, eyes darting around to see if anyone had heard them. Ankle-deep in muddy, viscous water, all he could hear was the ceaseless buzzing of cicadas and other insects in the night. Where it had been only sunset in whirlpool, it was already well and truly nightfall on the mainland.

He felt Naruto become still beneath him, waiting as he checked with his sharingan for other chakra signatures that may have been attempting to conceal themselves behind some of the thicker vegetation or below the muddy depths. Finding none, he removed his hand and pulled Naruto up with him, feeling how the bottom of his cloak was now heavy with muck that resisted his ascent. Naruto opened and closed his mouth a few times to alleviate the pressure that Sasuke had placed on his jaw before leaning over to retrieve the scroll from a puddle in front of them, now covered in mud.

"A swamp," he muttered in disgust, shaking the scroll a bit before rolling it back up and tucking it away. The seal that matched the key on the scroll had probably been hidden beneath the swamp somewhere, its presence not suspected at all. Looking around, his eyes began to glow red and realising that he intended to improve his eyesight with the Kyuubi's chakra, Sasuke grabbed his arm.

"Don't use the Kyuubi's chakra," he said sharply when the other looked questioningly back, the glow fading away. "No matter how much those pills mess up your chakra, demonic chakra has a different feel. Shinobi like Madara will tell the difference in an instant. Leave it for emergencies."

Sasuke could see Naruto's eyes grow wide and the blonde hesitated for a moment before nodding once. He seemed to deflate and Sasuke knew that he was inwardly raging with the idea of being even more dependent upon him. First his sage chakra was affected and now the Kyuubi's was too high risk. Even Sasuke had to admit that if he were in Naruto's position he would be extremely uncomfortable. As it was, if Naruto hadn't already had unnaturally large reserves without those other sources to begin with, Sasuke would have flat out refused to leave Whirlpool at all.

Unfortunately, he had almost forgotten how unbelievably stubborn Naruto could be at times, _especially_ to the point of recklessness. Rediscovering it was like a guilty thrill in itself.

"It'll be fine," he told him quietly.

"I know," Naruto lied. He took another glance around them, slowly trying to adjust to the darkness. "It doesn't matter. It's a pretty bright night anyway, see?" he said with a strained, toothless smile, and pointed at the patches of moonbeam breaking occasionally across the mud and water through the thin trees. Pulling a leg from the heavy mass and focusing chakra to the soles of his boots so that he wouldn't sink again, he attempted to walk ahead before Sasuke stopped him with a yank.

"What now?" Naruto yelped, catching himself before he could tumble sideways to the muck-covered ground. Definitely not a pretty situation for anyone to find themselves in.

"Don't wander off," Sasuke ordered darkly.

Naruto sighed heavily but reluctantly allowed him to walk ahead and lead them, not even protesting when he reached a hand behind himself to grab his wrist firmly, just to make sure that he didn't try to run off. Keeping Naruto grounded while on an island was one thing, but trying to keep him in check while out in the open was an entirely different story altogether.

Now that they were back in the elemental countries, Madara had the upper hand. The reckless kind of running off that Naruto tended to make a habit out of was not something that would be survived this time when spies and enemies were everywhere. Naruto may not have had the chance to but Sasuke had seen the desperation that some people would go to in order to secure the Kyuubi. Madara's promises were tempting, even if empty. Naruto had no idea what he was getting himself into, especially if he went meandering off into the darkness by himself.

With chakra tingling lightly beneath his own soles, Sasuke tugged Naruto and led him forward, using his sharingan to identify their direction and avoid areas where the murky ground was particularly disgusting. Rather than take their chances with the spindly, thin tree branches, they maintained a quiet, steady speed across the swamp surface, using the moon's position as a basic guide as to time. Owls hooted occasionally in the distance as they made their way onwards.

He felt Naruto tense suddenly beneath his loosened grip and glancing back, he saw him bite his bottom lip as he looked around, blue eyes sometimes unfocused when they were unable to grasp exactly what certain shadows were. It reminded Sasuke of the expression that Naruto had had when he first woke up in Whirlpool, tentatively disbelieving and confused.

_This is different to him_, he realised, taking another look for himself around at the foreign environment. It may have been the mainland but it was a completely unfamiliar and obscure corner of it. Naruto may as well have been waking up in unknown territory all over again.

And it probably didn't help things that Naruto had always had an acute fear of the eerie and supernatural, he recalled distantly as a wolf chose that moment to howl somewhere in the distance. He turned back to the front and smoothly, he slipped his grip down.

"There's nothing to see here, really," he said, squeezing Naruto's hand so lightly that it probably would have gone unnoticed if he hadn't spoken as well.

Naruto startled and Sasuke felt the slight jump of skin beneath his fingers. "Eh?"

"It's just a swamp. Think of that large one that we passed on the way to Snow Country when we were guarding the princess. It's just like that one."

"Oh."

There were a few seconds of silence before he heard Naruto give a light chuckle, the lonely sound echoing around them. "Yeah. I remember that."

Sasuke smirked to himself, also recalling the stubborn, young woman that had given Naruto a run for his money that time. "That's good. And here I was worried that you would remember nothing apart from the princess."

"I'll have you know that I remember _exactly_ how uncool you were on that mission."

"I'm flattered," he responded mockingly, and he enjoyed the squawk of indignant protest that Naruto voiced, the blonde giving a half-hearted attempt to jerk himself free from his hand.

Nonetheless, Naruto's grip was considerably more firm after that.

Sometime later, when the moon was halfway down and Naruto had definitely started dragging his feet behind them…

"Is that dry land?" the blonde asked suddenly, perking and tugging multiple times at Sasuke's hand pointedly. The ground beneath them was considerably harder than before and it levelled out smoothly after a few more steps.

"It _is_ dry land!" Naruto crowed in delight and after disconnecting their fingers he did a running jump, landing in a crouch just to prove that he would not sink this time.

Sasuke felt a ticking urge to smack his palm against his own forehead as he watched the celebrating blonde, the desire temporarily overtaking his want of a once again active Naruto. It seemed that there was a fine line between active and hyperactive, only one of which he could handle well. Thankfully, he had excellent self-control and he merely collected the blonde again as he walked past, dragging him along with him to the base of a tree.

"Stop making a racket. You can light a candle if you want," he scolded, disengaging his grip on a cloak-covered elbow and pulling out a tatty parchment from the inside of his own cloak. Unfolding it, he revealed a stained but detailed map of the elemental countries. "We might be here for awhile."

"It's fine now," Naruto said contentedly, although Sasuke noticed that he stayed right by his side rather than stray elsewhere. "Wouldn't it be better if we sneak into the town at night?" Naruto suggested, tilting forward to try and read the map upside down.

"Perhaps it would have been easier in the past," Sasuke agreed as he flicked the parchment with a smirk so that it hit the irritable blonde on the tip of the nose. "But nowadays the security at night has gotten so much tighter than in the day that the advantage is considerably less." Nursing his nose, Naruto turned his head rather quickly.

"Even you can't get past the security?" he asked with a disbelieving tone.

He froze with a caught expression the next second when he realised that he had just unwittingly paid the other a great compliment. Sasuke chuckled and watched as he became increasingly mortified at his unusual reaction.

"I could," he offered, pretending to consider it as he pored over the bottom half of the map, "but then there would be a lot more damage control required."

The flush slowly receded from Naruto's neck.

"What happened to the quiet, sneaking bastard that crashed the Kage Summit without anybody noticing?"

Sasuke snorted, finally locating their region. "I ended up killing several samurai, so it wasn't as quiet as all of you thought."

"Ah…"

At the trailing voice Sasuke glanced back up, expecting to see that troubled look that Naruto had taken to wearing. He was therefore momentarily taken aback when he saw him smiling warmly at him instead, those ocean blue eyes sparkling merrily even in the darkness.

"I'm glad you're avoiding that now," Naruto said to him by ways of explanation, looking absolutely serene at that moment. It was an expression that no illusion or hallucination could ever match up to and ironically, Sasuke felt reality slipping away in the face of it.

He stared at Naruto until the his words processed. Tearing his eyes away, he listened as the other settled himself comfortably against the tree trunk to wait for his verdict on what they were to do, rubbing his arms loudly to keep the warmth in now that they had stopped moving.

He wrestled down the need to turn around again and set straight the fact that no, that wasn't the case, and that Naruto had gotten it wrong. He would still let people die –he would let entire _villages_ and even their old comrades from Konoha die –if necessary. Somehow he knew that allowing Naruto to know that it was for his sake probably wouldn't help him either. Unlike the illusions, the true Naruto would not know his reasons, privy as they were to the darkest corners of his soul.

Now that they were out in the open, Naruto would see what he had truly become soon enough. What years of a stagnant, silent war and hopeless craving had done to him. His fingers clenched on the parchment. Naruto beginning to hum drew him from his listless thoughts and he returned to analysing their precise coordinates.

* * *

><p>They were to go in, stock up on food and weapons, do some recon and get out before nightfall, all without attracting any attention to themselves. Naruto mused out loud that it was just like any one of the other countless missions that they had done together as genin and he visibly lost tension from having a semblance of routine return to him. The small town that had been indicated in the scroll was just over the next hill and they were currently still at the border of the swamplands, making preparations to leave the foliage without anybody recognising them.<p>

"So _why _exactly can't I just use a henge?"

Perhaps it was not so much physical preparation as mental preparation on Sasuke's part.

"I told you already," he bit out, "you can use a henge inside the village all you want but it won't get past the gates outside."

Naruto pursed his lips sceptically and lifted his nose up at him. "But your genjutsu will?"

"From past experience, yes, it will," Sasuke retorted with surprising calmness. He knew that Naruto wasn't questioning his ability. It was, yet again, Naruto refusing to believe that he could do nothing for himself in these circumstances. Naruto's bottom lip was now jutting out as he frowned to himself and Sasuke sighed, knowing very well that when he got like this, sheer stubborness on his own part would only make things worse.

"Look," he said, rubbing his forehead and Naruto flicked his eyes back up, "You don't like depending on me. That's fine," not really, he thought, "as soon as we're inside you can henge. We both know what your genjutsu is like so just let me get us in."

Naruto regarded him suspiciously. "Really?"

"Yes."

"…Okay, fine." Naruto pointed a finger at him, blue eyes flashing warningly. "But remember what you said!"

Like bargaining candy with a child, Sasuke thought as Naruto instantly brightened up again.

When it neared noon they made their way along a dirt path that connected directly with the main route to the entrance of the village. As they passed through the forest and undergrowth, Sasuke felt that warning Naruto about a few things was in order.

"We will get a better idea of security as we get closer," he said. "If this town has any shinobi at all, then the protection will be of the kind that Konoha had during Orochimaru's invasion, only on a smaller scale. Also," he looked sideways at the blonde, "expect for the town itself to look different."

And with any luck, they'd avoid the masses of corpses lining the streets, he thought. Beggars were a given, but corpses being left like rubbish in plain sight as people walked by were not so ignorable. Hopefully, this town would be one of the fortunate ones.

Naruto replied from beside him, his voice deceptively level. "I _want_ to see, Sasuke," he told him. "Even if everything has completely changed, I want to remind myself of what I'm fighting for." He smiled and half his teeth were visible in it. "At the very least, that won't change."

"Fair enough," Sasuke replied with an exhale, expecting nothing less. "Just don't be too surprised. It will attract attention to us. Let me do most of the talking. When I unsealed you there were a lot of rumours going around about Kabuto double crossing Madara, so our main priority should be to get more information about that."

"Sounds like something that guy would do." Naruto nodded, remembering how he had been tricked by Kabuto in the past. "What are we going in as?"

"A merchant and his wife. Our story is that we are in the region to find a steady supplier of cotton."

Naruto's nose wrinkled as he frowned and walking ahead by a few feet, Sasuke could feel a glare powered on the back of his head.

"I'm not the merchant, am I?"

Sasuke didn't bother to completely hide his snicker.

They reached the end of the dirt path and merged onto the main road where there were a large number of people already heading in both directions. Naruto watched them inconspicuously but with curiosity, noticing the patchy, drab clothing most of them wore and the produce and poached animals that some were carrying with their bare hands and the occasional, woven basket. A large number of these people were older than what he would have thought typical of a hunter. No one was giving them any strange looks though so he assumed that whatever genjutsu Sasuke had cast was doing its job well.

"This looks normal," he commented, keeping his voice low. The people looked like those that he'd typically expect from an agricultural region. So far he could not see why Sasuke was being so uptight.

"Look ahead."

He did and straightening up a bit, he saw the top of the town that lay beyond a small hill. Instead of thatched, straw rooves however, he was met with several guard towers that spiked up into the cloudy sky. Squinting a bit, he counted three men on each tower and more that became visible as they ascended the hill. The men were standing on top of what appeared to be poorly constructed turrets made out of wood.

"Still normal?"

"Paranoid normal, maybe," Naruto replied dubiously.

"Don't say anything as we go past the barriers," Sasuke told him. He nodded his understanding.

There was a small line waiting to enter the town and they lined up side-by-side behind an old man. Naruto stood close to Sasuke as they slowly progressed up the queue, suddenly nervous about the range of Sasuke's genjutsu. When they reached the front there were three men running basic level scans on each person. The old man in front of them was ushered to one side and another free guard gestured for them to follow him to the side of the turrets when he was done with the previous person.

Sasuke felt Naruto tense as the man used some kind of jutsu that he'd never seen before. He wouldn't have, because it had been jointly developed by the five great villages especially for countering zetsu and other transformations after the war. The watered down version of the technique had then been distributed to smaller populaces, one of the last connections between the great villages and the smaller colonies before those ties were almost completely severed.

A strange tingling feeling enveloped the both of them as the man before them concentrated. Naruto didn't say anything and after a few minutes, the guard nodded and waved at them to continue on ahead and into the village. Sasuke felt Naruto move away as the man turned to examine the next person.

"Halt!"

The both of them paused, Naruto significantly more startled. Looking over their shoulders, they saw that the guard was not addressing them but the elderly man that had been in front of them. The man was clutching the two dead rabbits in his hands protectively to his chest. Understanding what was happening, Sasuke attempted to walk on but Naruto held back uncooperatively, throwing him a questioning look.

"You know the rules, old man," the guard said loudly in annoyance, his voice easily carrying over to them. They watched as he reached out a hand and took one of the rabbits bodily, holding it out of reach when the original owner extended a hand to try and take it back. "You only need one."

"I have grandchildren," the man pleaded. "Please, sir."

"Keep walking, old man." A hand batted carelessly at the one that had been deprived of its labour.

"Sir…"

Naruto's lips had gradually thinned as he watched them and seeing this, Sasuke knew that he would not stand idly. He prepared to hold the other back if necessary but was surprised when the blonde made no action to surge forwards in his anger.

"Sasuke, what do our genjutsu forms look like?" Naruto asked instead, tone frigid. Seeing beneath the genjutsu, Sasuke could tell that the coldness tinted his unblinking eyes.

"I told you before. A merchant couple," he said slowly.

"Young or old?"

"Young."

He threw him a dark warning look but Naruto was still focused on the spectacle near the turrets.

"Do we look like civilians?"

"…"

"Just answer the question, Sasuke!"

"You're a weak, civilian woman," he snapped. Naruto grinned.

"Excellent. Then they won't suspect _this_."

Sasuke felt a hand swipe at the lining of his cloak and he looked down just in time to see Naruto's fingers make a barely noticeable flicking movement. Pinpricks of light reflected off of the needle-thin senbon that went flying through the air towards the guard holding the rabbits. Naruto had aimed for a nerve in his neck that sent signals to his arm and fingers and Sasuke's better eyesight saw the senbon go cleanly through, not leaving an immediate mark on the skin. The blood would well up later but the immediate result was that the rabbit went thumping to the ground as the guard stared at his suddenly numb-hand in confusion.

The old man, interpreting this as the guard taking pity on him, quickly retrieved the dusty rabbit. After thanking the guard profusely he scuttled off into the town behind them and out of sight. Naruto watched him run ahead of them with satisfaction.

"And now, we walk quietly away," he declared, prompting Sasuke to move again with another tug at his elbow as he followed the street that the old man had vanished down. Sasuke restrained his exasperation and the need to lecture the other on his recklessness.

"When did you learn about pressure points?" he interrogated instead.

"Sakura," Naruto answered simply. He tilted his head slightly to the side. "She always hit mine when she got annoyed." He didn't say anything else.

Sasuke looked at him suspiciously but did not question the lack of further discussion of their ex-teammate. It suited him better that way.

"Where are we going first?" Naruto asked. He was casting his gaze in all directions, taking in what all of the stores lining the street had to offer and looking completely like a foreigner as he did. One store caught his eye and following his line of sight, Sasuke saw sets of shining weaponry sitting behind a display glass.

With sparkling eyes, Naruto grinned eagerly at him.

"Later."

The grin dropped.

"Why not now?"

"We'll get them after I have a chance to remove the genjutsu. We'll come back in shinobi attire."

"Oh, right. Merchants, cotton. Got ya."

They kept on walking and Naruto gestured at another place. Sasuke could tell that he was trying his hardest to show that he could do something, too. He took a look at the small tea shop crossed with a bar that sat near a street intersection. Even from the limited view of the inside that their angle gave them, he could already glimpse at least one small group of shinobi sitting down, relaxing. It seemed like a good place to do some investigating.

He nodded his approval and they approached it.

"Good morning!"

A kindly looking old woman greeted them from behind the hanging cloths over the counter, giving them a warm smile even as she poured cups of steaming hot tea without looking.

"Good morning," Naruto chirped back before Sasuke could say anything. He was forced to regain the distance that Naruto made as the younger rapidly dogged a straight line to the counter, leaning over the edge and breathing in deeply.

"The tea smells great, obaasan!" Naruto exclaimed as he pulled back.

The old woman chuckled and looked at Sasuke. "Your wife is quite an energetic young woman," she said with a smile. He grunted an affirmative in reply and she turned back to Naruto, lightly flattered when she saw that the merchant's 'wife' was examining all of the containers of tea leaves with great interest. "These are special brews," she informed him proudly. "Only I know their composition. People come from all over the great nations for this tea!"

"Really?" Naruto asked in awe, already completely sold and near salivating.

The old lady nodded. Looking around at the unnaturally immaculate state of the little tea shop, Sasuke agreed that there had to be indeed something special about her tea if she could afford to keep her shop so pristine.

"Could we get a pot of that one?" Naruto asked the old woman, pointing to some tea leaves that had rice grains and some sort of dried, pink flower mixed in.

"Certainly. Please take a seat anywhere you like and I'll bring it right over."

"Thanks obaasan!"

They turned into the restaurant and Sasuke could see a few curious gazes directed their way, the owners pondering at the unusually lively woman in their midst.

"You're too loud," he muttered under his breath.

"There's nothing wrong with being loud," Naruto defended but he said it in a noticeably quieter tone.

They sat down on blue zabutons at a table that Sasuke selected on the tea side of the shop, close enough to the bar that they could hear the words of any of the shinobi sitting there. Kneeling carefully, Naruto consciously made sure that he retained a lady-like pose in keeping with the genjutsu. His normal sitting position with both legs stretched out in front of the zabuton probably wouldn't do, no matter how comfortable he could claim it was.

"Here is your tea."

The old lady approached with two cups and a teapot on a serving board. She set these down before them and poured the hot liquid without spilling a single drop. "Is there anything else I could get for you? We have some light snacks that compliment our tea splendidly."

"Sure," Naruto responded enthusiastically, "I'll try some of those."

The old lady nodded happily and turned to Sasuke.

"A beer."

Naruto looked over the low table at Sasuke in surprise, the expression fortunately unseen by the shop's owner.

"Certainly," the woman responded and she bustled away to get their orders.

"You drink?" Naruto asked, taken aback. Sasuke shrugged.

"Sometimes."

With amazing speed, the old woman returned with a plate of four sweet cakes and Sasuke's beer. After she had gone, Naruto watched with some disbelief as Sasuke took a long drink from the glass after first taking a smaller sip, presumably to test for poison. He managed to drink even beer with grace, something which Naruto had never seen anyone else achieve during his training with Jiraiya, and that had been a long line.

Lifting his own cup of bittersweet tea with a sideways glance at the flower shaped cakes, he suddenly felt like an over-indulged child. Sasuke had even tested the tea for the both of them.

"Can I try some?" he asked, setting down his cup.

Sasuke looked at him over the rim of the glass, a bit of surprise showing in his eyes.

"You're underage."

"I'm the same age as you."

"…"

"Don't even try to say otherwise," he said dangerously, seeing the words balancing on the tip of Sasuke's tongue.

Sasuke's lips thinned but he passed the glass over. "One sip," he said flatly as Naruto took it.

"Yeah, yeah."

Naruto stuck his tongue out but took only a single, modest draw from the glass. He swished the liquid around in his mouth for a moment, testing it and letting the smallest amount trickle down his throat. Then something started burning at the back of his throat and up to his nostrils. Eyes widening, he forced himself to swallow the strong liquid, coughing and reaching for the tea, the cake, _anything_.

"It's disgusting!" he spluttered loudly, earning them scandalised looks from a small group of men nursing their own keg of beer.

Sasuke smirked and took the glass back, continuing to drink comfortably from it while Naruto threw occasional dark looks at the liquid within.

They continued taking small sips of their beverages after that, using it as an excuse to remain silent and eavesdrop on each of the talking groups surrounding them. Naruto had to admit that the tea tasted very unique and he ended up refilling his cup several times as they waited for an interesting conversation to come along.

" –_definitely the hottest girl I've ever met."_

"_No way. My Natsuko-chan would take her down any day!"_

Naruto snorted at the way that Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. Next conversation. They looked at two people sitting at the bar, both dressed in camouflage shinobi garb. One was waving his arm haphazardly to make a point.

"_And you know what that asshole –hic—said to me? He told me that if I didn't—hic— take my scroll and get the hell out of his village, he'd take it and shove it up my–"_

"I feel for him," Naruto said sympathetically. Sasuke's other eyebrow twitched suddenly and he gave his beer a mutinous look. "I mean, do you remember how many times we got chased out of villages by crazy old geezers," Naruto continued without noticing, "and that's not including the ones who did it cause of Kyuubi!"

"Whatever."

"Bastard."

"Keep listening, idiot."

He did and for his troubles, he got a couple of conversations about boring D-rank missions, a few brags and several _extremely_ colourful, drunken rants. He supposed what people lacked in brains, they made up for with stupid theories on why the great nations looked like the constellation of some weirdo shinobi that most likely had never even existed. Bored, he licked at the red bean filling of his cake as it began leaking out from all of his ministrations upon the poor thing.

"—_kage's entourage was ambushed."_

They both tensed. They threw meaningful looks at each other and then at the group of four that the words had come from.

"_Is that crazy coot still trying to call himself a Kage? Jeez. Well, I guess he had it coming to him. Though the loss of the Flower Country is rather unfortunate." _

Sasuke returned to sipping his beer, visibly ticked.

Naruto frowned, unable to make sense of the conversation. "I don't get it," he whispered confusedly.

"It seems that the Hanakage finally figured out that being a Kage isn't all fun and games," Sasuke informed him dryly. When Naruto continued staring blankly at him through the smoke spiralling from the teapot, he explained further. "A few idiots tried to place their countries in positions of greater power. Unfortunately for them, it isn't only the five great nations that disapprove. Madara doesn't like it when people don't know their place."

"Oh." Shifting uncomfortably with that knowledge, Naruto's brow creased further and his fingers began moulding the new pink cake that he had picked up. "Why would they do that, though?" he asked.

"Desperation." Sasuke shrugged uncaringly, brushing back a stray lock of hair that dislodged with the action. "Most likely, someone came along and promised protection in return for control."

"Aren't the Kages doing anything about it?"

"A couple of idiots trying and failing to get involved in small politics are the least of their worries."

"—_my son is getting married next month. It's a shame we can't have a larger ceremony but you know how things are. It's enough that –"_

"Let's go. I've heard enough."

Sasuke set down his empty glass with a dull clunk and Naruto hurriedly finished what remained of his tea as Sasuke went on ahead to pay at the counter. Catching up, he noted with appreciation that the genjutsu could maintain itself even across the expanse of the store.

"We got absolutely nothing," he said in a low tone as they left the shop. Remembering his manners, he stopped to turn back and wave and smile at the old lady once.

"There will be more opportunities," Sasuke said calmly. "Parts of this village seem to be flourishing rather well and it looks like shinobi enjoy resting here."

They walked deeper into the heart of the town where many more people were occupying the streets. Casually, they kept an eye out for anything of interest. Their cover really couldn't have been more suitable. The town was filled with a rich variety of goods and wares for sale, most of which would have definitely been from some other region.

"Where did you normally do all your recon?" Naruto asked when they had gone through several streets with no luck. Recon always had been one of the more annoying kinds of missions because it couldn't be rushed or expedited in any way sans violence. It was a matter of luck that depended on coming across people that just happened to talk.

"I'd do what we're doing now, until I eventually find something," Sasuke replied. "Or if I felt like it, I would just use the sharingan."

"We're not that desperate yet," Naruto enforced hastily. "You don't have to use your sharingan for every little thing."

Sasuke glanced sideways with one raised eyebrow at the shorter male. "Are you still upset that I used it on you?"

"No...not really." He sighed, remembering the strange wooziness that came with not having full reign over your own mind. "But it didn't feel good when it wore off," he scolded. "And it can't be all that healthy for you to continuously use it either."

Sasuke mused over Naruto's words. "These eyes won't lose their light," he settled for saying. Naruto, looking up at an angle, found that slight hue of grey that he had come to notice stained the corners of Sasuke's eyes. It hadn't always been there.

"Because they're Itachi's?" he mumbled, more to himself.

He immediately knew that it was not the right thing to say and that that he could not have picked an easier trigger to push. There _was _no right time to bring up Itachi's name, it simply didn't happen. He watched with dread as Sasuke stiffened beside him and something tense fell over them, making the atmosphere stale and distant.

"I don't mean it that way," he whispered hurriedly, wondering apprehensively whether Sasuke would lash out at him. However, the other didn't even turn his head.

Sasuke's pace sped up and he was taking wider steps, weaving through the people whose movements seemed to slow down in comparison. He obviously wasn't happy and Naruto sidestepped throngs of people to keep up.

"Come on," he tried to make amends, "Itachi's a great guy and all but I know that you can –"

"I'm not jealous of my brother," Sasuke cut him off coolly. "Not anymore." Naruto realised that the purpose of his speed was to try to stop them from smoothly continuing this conversation. "I agree with you," Sasuke said, breaking off when he sidestepped a couple. "He was a great shinobi. One of the best. I am the one that threw all of that back in his face."

"Sa—"

He trailed off to dodge a man that walked right between them. They were going way too fast for a nice morning stroll on a full stomach of tea, dammit. He returned back to Sasuke's side and knocked him in the arm with his shoulder, making him pay attention and slow down a little.

"I don't care whose eyes they were," he said quickly in a hushed breath. He leaned forward so that Sasuke was forced to look at him. "You might be here because of everything Itachi has given up but you're still _Sasuke_, my best friend. Itachi has a part in that but I'm not an idiot that'll let that get in the way."

To his surprise, Sasuke's face seemed to harden even more and became positively stony. Lips thinned and lines appeared in a way that was disturbingly reminiscent of Itachi's features. The younger Uchiha didn't answer him and continued walking by him and down the street, leaving a flabbergasted Naruto in his wake.

And then Naruto realised that what he'd just said was _exactly _what Sasuke had done in the past. He could have run himself into a brick wall right then.

"Wait—!"

Something grabbed his hand and in that moment, Sasuke disappeared behind a small group of people cutting acrosss the street. In a momentary panic, he attempted to push forward but whatever it was that was holding his hand turned out to be doing so quite deliberately, pulling him back and making him stumble. Even as he watched, the top of the easily identifiable locks of raven hair vanished from sight as well.

"Miss –"

Turning around, he was completely ready to tear apart the person that had separated them, along with every intention of imputing his confusion at Sasuke upon this guy as well. He was faced with a short, young man with brown hair and plain features, maybe around the same age as himself and Sasuke. It was this man that held his wrist in a gentle but firm grip.

"Who are you?" he snarled warily. With a strong tug he freed himself, flinging the other hand away from him. They were in a crowded street and he cast a look over his shoulder, trying to see where Sasuke was and if he had noticed his absence. Nowhere in sight.

The brunette made a sound of satisfied acknowledgement as he watched his actions.

"As I thought. You and your husband aren't normal merchants."

Naruto's heart skipped a beat. He swung his face back to the other, examining him more closely from head to foot. He searched for a hitai-ate that might reveal this man's origins but he didn't appear to be wearing one. That in itself was enough to make his eyes narrow in suspicion.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded. The guy didn't look that strong. If the need arose he could most likely handle this before Sasuke figured out what was going on.

The young man leaned forward very close to him but he refused to let himself take a step back. This man was even shorter than him, for god's sake. So when the other spoke at such close proximity, Naruto heard only his words, loud and clear.

"I saw what you did to that guard."

It was like a barrage of jutsus had hit him, and then left him laying there with a sign pronouncing his uncanny ability to walk into traps and bad situations in general. His resultant shock and horror must have been extremely apparent because the man hurriedly reassured him.

"I mean you no harm. I would just like to have a word with you."

His eyes darted around and finding the entrance to a gap between two buildings, he began pulling Naruto towards it. Seeing his intention, Naruto came to his senses and shook himself out of his stupor.

"Oi! Let me go!' he screeched. "I'm warning you –"

"You're seeking information, aren't you?"

He stopped pulling against the man just as they came to a stop in the shadow offered by the buildings.

"You were following us?" he whispered. His chakra stirred in preparation. Had this man heard what they were saying as well? In his mind he tried to recall whether he had used Sasuke's name at all.

"I followed you after I saw you help that old man," the man confessed. "I was watching you from a store across from Lady Kana's tea shop so I know that you are seeking information. I just want to give you this." In the gloom, Naruto saw the man reach a hand into his cloak and begin withdrawing something.

Instantly, he tensed in distrust. A kunai slid into his hand from his sleeve on instinct but before he had the chance to lift it in warning, someone else had hit the both of them from behind and sent the whole lot of them stumbling into the small space and out of sight completely. At first Naruto feared that it was an ambush but then a familiar voice met his ears.

"I take my eyes off of you for five seconds and this is what happens," Sasuke's voice hissed angrily.

Straightening, Naruto saw the exact kind of scene that he would have liked to avoid. Sasuke's forearm held the brunette against the wall by the neck, pinning him there firmly and non-too gently. The young man choked a bit beneath the pressure and Sasuke coolly observed this, pressing down even harder.

"Sa—" Shit, Naruto cursed in his mind, he had to really get more used to this, "Bastard, don't kill him. He isn't an enemy."

"What do you want?" Sasuke ignored him, leaning closer to his captive. Seeing the look of fear in the young man's eyes, Naruto had to wonder what genjutsu Sasuke was using that was even more impressive than the true Uchiha glare.

"Just—this," the brunette held up a scroll in his shaking hand, "—information."

Sasuke made no move to take it and fading eyes locked onto Naruto's in desperation over Sasuke's shoulder. Sensing the plea, seeing the way that the hand held tightly to the extended scroll like it was something preciously important, Naruto had the fleeting, unquestioned thought that this man and whatever he had to tell them could be trusted. He took the scroll from the trembling hand and before Sasuke could stop him, he unfurled it.

"You—!"

A cry came from the captive as Sasuke pressed down hard with a vicious snarl. Naruto's stomach dropped at the sound of crunching brick against bone and he lunged forwards.

"Stop! There's nothing wrong with the scroll!"

He turned it around quickly to show Sasuke.

"It's normal writing and ink. Trust me."

He met Sasuke's eyes, trying to tell him. He would know. He was an Uzumaki, he knew seals and any trap involved in them. This was not one.

Taking it with his free hand, Sasuke made a sweeping examination of the scroll, his eyes darting over row after row of the characters quickly. They widened slightly as whatever information was contained was processed by his sharingan at a rate faster than what would normally be possible. He looked back at the floundering young man that he held against the brick.

"Is this true?" he demanded in a low voice. The other nodded weakly. "Why would you give something like this to us?"

"It's all I can do," The young man gasped for air, "I have to s— spread word."

"Who's side are you on?"

"Re—resistance."

By the sudden sharp breath that Sasuke drew, Naruto knew that that had meant something to him. He watched as with some hesitance at first, Sasuke's grip lessened. Then he released it altogether and took a step back. After the man had slumped to the floor, he grabbed Naruto roughly and pulled them out of the small space again, leaving the man shell-shocked but alive.

"Will he be alright?" Naruto asked, taking a backwards glance at the shadowy alcove.

"He'll be fine."

"What's with the scroll?"

He suddenly felt a jerk and a gust of wind blew abruptly down the middle of the street, the air mixed in with an unusually large amount of leaves. He closed his eyes against the jutsu and when he came to his bearings after the world stopped spinning, he saw that they were in a deserted alleyway in another street. Sasuke abruptly grabbed him by both shoulders and wheeled him around, slamming him against the closest wall.

"What were you thinking, going off like that?" he demanded harshly, shaking him. The rough brick grated uncomfortably through Naruto's clothes and already a bit thrown by the jutsu, he would have none of it.

"You're the one that walked off!" he snapped.

"Are you that slow that you can't keep up with me when I'm walking?"

"You seemed like you were doing it quite happily on your own."

His words were bitter. Sasuke disappearing into the crowd of people, his familiar back no longer within reach, was something that he had already had enough of. It brought back long strings of memories that he didn't yet want to face.

Sasuke's fingers dug into his shoulders hard enough to bruise and he held back a wince at the rough treatment.

"You _idiot_."

He could feel Sasuke's fists shaking, most likely in anger. He found that he didn't care. How dare Sasuke make it sound like he was the wrong one here? Defiantly he pulled away, knocking the hands off. He turned around and began taking large strides away from him, fully intending to walk off to anywhere other than there. Let Sasuke have a taste of his own medicine, he thought vengefully as he made his departure, let him have a taste of being abandoned time and time again.

He didn't get very far before he was yanked back violently, the alley exit still out of reach. Unable to re-balance himself, he want crashing into Sasuke.

"Let go!" he demanded, twisting against the arms that wound constrictively around him. They pinned his own arms to his side and he began kicking out instead. "God damn it, Sasuke, let me go or I swear I'll rasengan you!"

"Never."

Sasuke must have been leaning over because his hot breath was tickling Naruto's neck, making him shudder and stiffen involuntarily. He shook himself and increased his struggles, refusing to lose.

He growled. "You—"

"I know."

He frowned at the interruption.

"What do you know?" he asked, sarcasm seeping into his words.

"Why you want to go." Lips pressed against the shell of his ear. "No matter what I do, it'll never be enough, will it?"

_Seven years is not enough_.

At those words, all flailing and kicking stopped at once. He felt Sasuke's face press against his hair and the back of his neck now that his violent actions had ceased. Every uneven breath that gushed from the older male's lips sent another rush of heat down his collar and spine.

Oh. This was actually serious. And Sasuke could not have gotten it more wrong.

The anger seeped out of him faster than water moving in a river.

The grip around him was suffocating now that he focused more on it. It was the clutch of a desperate man hanging onto his final, precious treasure. And within it he was the one being sheltered. Wanted or not, he was being held like he could finally give up on a little of that fear of being alone in the end.

"Don't leave."

Sasuke was far from calm. His disappearance in that street must have hit him harder than he'd first imagined. He'd probably thought that he had done a runner, judging by this reaction. Slowly, as the arms around him loosened gradually with the seconds going past, he rotated in them until he could see the Uchiha in the face. The arms around him slipped away, a ghostly warmth all that was left behind.

Sasuke's expression was blank. The pale, flawless countenance was completely wiped clean, waiting for him to decide what it would become. Seeing this vulnerability, Naruto sighed breathlessly. He leaned forward to give Sasuke his own, gruff bear hug, failing somewhat because Sasuke was larger than him.

"You're troublesome, you know that?" he grumbled.

Sasuke stiffened and Naruto pulled back, looking at him seriously. "I won't leave. I already told you I won't," he repeated. "Get that into your head, Sasuke. No matter what stupid things come out of my mouth or whatever crazy family member of yours tries to kill me, I'm not leaving."

"You already broke that promise." Sasuke sneered accusatorily, refusing to relent despite the peace offering. "Seven years ago, you already broke it."

Naruto paused.

"I'm back now, aren't I?"

"You never intended to come back."

A rush of regret surged between the both of them the moment those words were uttered, both wishing that they could be taken back and locked away. This conversation was dangerous and they both knew it. Some things when laid bare could never be buried away again.

"You don't trust me either," Naruto accused, steering them into safer waters.

Sasuke gave him a flat look, as if asking, 'How do you figure that?'

"You won't let me do anything," he said. "You won't even let me use a henge because you think that I'll leave the moment I don't have to depend on you."

A flash of something in Sasuke's eyes acknowledged those words as truth but Naruto felt no triumph whatsoever at catching him out.

"Did I ever say that I wanted to leave you?" he asked softly.

Sasuke saw the blue eyes fiercely challenging him and he knew that he had one chance to give the right answer.

"You didn't."

Naruto smiled. He tilted his head at an angle, the both of them meeting each others' eyes without blinking. The thought of abandoning the other, against his will or not, really didn't sit with him.

_I'll be on your mind, first and foremost._

Maybe Sasuke was right.

Black eyes swam with shards of red, captivating him. He couldn't tear away from them, even though no hands held his body in place to make sure that he didn't reject the sharingan. Sasuke was giving him free reign and in return, he expected trust. Naruto gave it willingly.

When the red had slunk back into the black depths like an illusionary vanishing trick, he blinked, seeing two people in his mind that he had never seen before. A man and a woman. He instantly knew who they were and he smiled to himself.

"Those are our forms," Sasuke murmured.

"I think we look better as ourselves," he said with a grin. The atmosphere lightened.

"We'll stay the night here," Sasuke told him, a tiny smile on his own lips. He looked at the inn on the other side of the alley that they were in. "You can henge from tomorrow onwards."

"We're staying here? Why?"

Sasuke lifted the scroll that Naruto had completely forgotten about and he studied it with a bit of ill-will. It had started their altercation in the first place, after all.

"According to this, the resistance group is meeting in a neighbouring village in a few days. They openly oppose Madara so they should know about what's going on." The Uchiha shook his head to himself. "I've never been able to find out anything about them. Yet you manage to get information without even trying."

Sasuke was being subtly nice and Naruto had to admit, he loved it.

"So that thing," he pointed at the scroll, "is kind of like their way of keeping members updated on what's going on?"

"And for recruiting new members, it seems." Sasuke paused and after a split moment's hesitation, he offered the scroll to Naruto. "There's something in here about the Hokage," he said lowly, waiting as the wind curled around them in the small space.

Naruto's lips parted a bit, startled. He looked down at the proffered scroll and Sasuke fully expected him to snatch it and demand why he didn't say so earlier. Instead, Naruto slowly reached out. He touched Sasuke's hand that held the scroll, and gently pushed it away.

"Later."

Sasuke held the scroll dumbly in his hand as Naruto walked towards the inn, pausing when he didn't immediately follow.

"Come on," the other called over his shoulder. "We should rest up for tomorrow."

One stepping stone at a time, Sasuke told himself, and he followed Naruto's path.

* * *

><p>Naruto woke up in the middle of the night to the soft cries of some stray animal foraging in the street gutters directly outside the inn. The lamps were glowing dully through the windows and he hazily blinked a few times at the rice paper panels before rolling over, fully intending to doze back off, tortured cat or none. He froze when he immediately saw the shadow sitting stoically next to the doorway on the other side of the room.<p>

His eyes flitted to Sasuke's futon and upon seeing that it was empty with the covers pulled back, he took another good look at the person next to the door. His heart calmed when he confirmed that it was just Sasuke and not some random thief or creepy innkeeper that had broken into their room in the name of making sure that things were to their liking. That had happened in the past before, a rather terrifying experience that Sai had made sure to tease him consistently about.

He pulled himself up, sweeping his covers off and to the side in one clean movement. Sasuke turned around at the sound of sliding cotton and watched him without speaking as he crawled on his hands and knees across both futons, not stopping until he was right beside the sentinel-like Uchiha.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" he whispered when he had reached him. Eyes roving downwards, he saw that in the hand of the arm that rested on Sasuke's knee, his kusanagi was held in a lax grip, the end of the sword grazing against the tatami next to his bare foot.

"Keeping watch," Sasuke answered shortly and without inflection. Naruto flinched. The response had sounded too robotic and nonchalant. "This is unfamiliar territory," Sasuke continued, only a little more naturally. "At least for the first night, we can't take any chances."

Kneeling, Naruto examined him thoroughly. Although the Uchiha appeared alert enough on the surface, Naruto noticed how his breaths were deep and even, as though on the precipice of sleep. He was also as still as a statue but without any tension at all. It was a relaxed stance, practised so that Sasuke could slip into the offensive straightaway but not strain his muscles from being kept in a single position for too long.

"Sasuke, let me take over for the rest of the night," he said firmly. Reaching out, he made to slide the katana from Sasuke's limp hand. He pulled back defensively when the grip tightened suddenly and the blade sounded metallically within its sheath from the motion.

Silence, then, "Go back to sleep." Sasuke turned back to the doorway.

Hesitantly, Naruto leaned forward again, this time tentatively placing one of his hands over Sasuke's one that was still clutching the embossed handle tightly. He squeezed gently, making Sasuke look back down at him.

"You've been doing this for the past seven years," he told him softly in persuasion, meeting his gaze. "Let me take over now." After speaking he made no more movement, waiting instead for the lucidly dreaming Sasuke to react.

They blinked at each other through the darkness, determined blue refusing to back down from hard, barely focused black. Finally though, Sasuke shifted slightly. Naruto took advantage of it and helped him along, standing up together with him and steering him stolidly back to his futon.

"Go to sleep," he told him, taking the katana from his loosened grip as the other man snaked under the sheets. "And don't think that I won't notice if you're still awake," he warned with finality.

Sasuke's airy snort was the only answer he received before he closed his eyes. Naruto settled down in the spot that Sasuke had been in before, occasionally looking over for the first few minutes to make sure that the Uchiha's breathing and facial muscles had completely relaxed.

He didn't know that a smile had made its way to his own face, and he carried out his self imposed duty with a feeling of great content.

The next morning Sasuke woke up to a calm mind and a bowl of steaming congee on a small stool beside his futon.

Sitting up, he stared blandly at it, questioning its presence before the door slid open suddenly and Naruto walked in with another bowl on a serving tray. Naruto grinned broadly when he saw that he was awake and pushed the door loudly shut behind him with one foot, balancing precariously so that Sasuke had fleeting concerns as to whether the contents of the second bowl would find themselves all over his head.

"Morning Sasuke!" the blonde chirped, setting the tray on the ground next to the stool and flopping down onto his stomach on the tatami. "I got us breakfast, so eat up!"

"Morning…"

Sasuke watched as the blonde pulled the second bowl to himself and began spooning large mouthfuls into his mouth, fanning himself rapidly when it burnt his tongue.

"I already checked it for poison," Naruto said after swallowing his first, scorching mouthful, seeing the question floating on Sasuke's disapprovingly parted lips. "And no, no one saw me like this," he said, waving a hand down his dishevelled pyjamas and unhidden appearance. "Come on, give me a bit of credit," he mocked.

Closing his mouth, Sasuke picked up the bowl cautiously, swirling the congee a few times with the spoon before actually beginning to eat. He kept his eyes on Naruto the whole time.

"You seem happier today," he commented when they were both done. He set his empty bowl back on the stool.

"I am," Naruto acknowledged cheerily.

"Is there something you can share?"

Naruto feigned a thoughtful expression from where he was still stretched out on the floor, a forefinger tapping away at his chin.

"Well," he dragged out, "I'm no longer in the middle of the ocean, Kyuubi's stopped giving me headaches, we're actually getting somewhere, and the innkeeper is a surprisingly nice guy," he contemplated with a chuckle to himself.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, telling him with minimal effort that he didn't buy it.

Naruto huffed and reached for the empty bowls, preparing to take them back outside.

"Fine, the innkeepers a sleazy asshole but the first three are real."

"Naruto," Sasuke said warningly.

Letting out a loud exhale, Naruto stacked the bowls on the tray. His grin softened into a mischievous smile and he moved the tray to the side and out of the way.

"Hey Sasuke," he called out casually, eyes thinning as his smile broadened into his cheeks.

Sasuke looked at him warily but played along. "What is it?"

Naruto leaned forward close to him. The room seemed to grow just a bit brighter.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, and grinning at the faintly perplexed expression that he had induced on Sasuke's face, he picked the tray back up, disappearing out the door with his golden hair flicking after him around the wooden frame.

_End of Chapter Seven._

* * *

><p>:3<p>

Thank you for continuing to read! Please take the time to review and I'll be back next time!


End file.
